UC-NRLF 


B   M   5^3 


T 

INIA 


PRINCE  DEUKALION 

A  LYRICAL  DRAMA. 


Bestimmt,  Erleuchtetes  zu  sehen,  nicht  das  Licht. 

GOETHE. 

If  thou  canst  not  ascend 
These  steps,  die  on  that  marble  where  thou  art ! 

KEATS. 


PRINCE   DEUKALION. 


BY 


BAYARD  TAYLOR. 


BOSTON: 
HOUGHTON,    OSGOOD   AND    COMPANY; 

Cambridge :  Wfyt  Ktoeitftoe 

1878. 


U1BUB. 


Copyright,  1878, 
BY  BAYARD  TAYLOR. 

All  rights  resei~ved. 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED   AND    PRINTED   BY 

H.    O.    HOUC'.HTON    AND    COMPANY. 


ARGUMENT. 


That  some  fashion  of  a  clew  may  be  attached  to  a  work  which  the  Author  hopes  will  not 
in  any  case,  be  found  labyrinthine,  he  hath  been  advised  by  various  Friends  in  whose  coun 
sel  he putteth  trust  (the  same  being  Poets),  to  set  forth  this  Argument.  He  believes  that  a 
very  few  hints  will  STiffice  to  make  clear  his  purpose  to  such  as  apprehend  his  primary  con 
ception  ;  and  that  a  moderate  furniture  of  explanation  concerning  the  individual  charac 
ters  of  the  Drama  will  be  all  that  any  willing  reader  of  Poetry  needs.  Whosoever  turncth 
to  the  work  from  mere  instigation  of  curionty,  or  in  imitation  of  others  whose  tastes  are  of 
authority,  will  surely  not  be  edified. 

7"he  central  design,  or  —  as  it  might  be  said — germinal  cause  of  the  Poem  is  to  picture 
forth  the  struggle  of  Man  (which  term  always  and  inevitably  inchideth  Woman)  to  reach 
the  highest,  justest,  happiest,  hence  most  perfect  condition  of  Human  Life  on  this  planet. 
The  end  of  all  things  being  prefigured  in  their  beginnings,  the  attainment  of  such  condi 
tion  belongs  to  Maris  original  destiny.  But  Knowledge,  Religion,  Political  Organization, 
Art,  and  the  manifold  assumptions  of  the  Animal  Nature,  by  turns  promote  or  delay  the 
forward  movement,  make  season  after  season  of  promise  deceitful,  and  cease  not  continu 
ally  to  assail  the  faith  of  Humanity  in  much  that  it  possibly  may,  and  rightfully  should, 
possess.  Such  a  struggle,  prolonged  through  a  period  of  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
the  Atithor  hath  endeavored  herein  to  present,  rising  the  device  of  making  Personages  stand 
for  Powers  and  Principles,  yet  (he  earnestly  de.siretJi)  without  losing  that  distinctness  of 
visage  and  those  quick  changes  of  blood  which  keep  them  near  to  the  general  heart  of  Man. 

In  Act  /.  the  reader  will  behold  the  passing  away  of  the  Classic  Faith,  and  the  emer 
gence  of  Christianity  from  its  hidden  places  of  abode  to  the  daylight  of  acceptance.  From 
the  mouth  of  the  Shepherd  he  will  hear  the  voice  of  the  unthinking,  obedient  multitude  : 
in  the  Nymphs  he  shall  perceive  the  beauteous  Art  and  Poetry  of  the  ancient  world.  Should 
Prince  Deukalion  and  Pyrrha  possess  veritable  Being  for  him,  they  may  (in  the  course  of 
the  Drama)  peradventure  appear  as  the  Ideals  of  possible  Manhood  and  possible  Woman 
hood,  decreed  from  the  first,  not  yet  incarnate,  nor  permitted  to  celebrate  their  high  nup 
tials  until  both  shall  be  fulfilled  in  Human  Life.  Then  will  the  Titan,  Prometheus,  and 
the  Titaness,  Pandora,  interpret  themselves,  and  even  the  bright  Goddess,  Eos,  be  no  longer 
mysterious,  although  not  yet  fairly  beheld  of  men. 


426 


X  THE  ARGUMENT. 

In  Act  II.,  which  opens  a  thousand  years  later,  Medusa  reigneth.  Yet  is  she  no  figure 
of  the  Faith  of  her  day  and  world,  but  only  of  that  Ecclesiastical  System  which  essayed 
to  shape  and  compel  to  its  service  all  the  forces  of  Life.  In  the  Youth,  who  afterwards 
appeareth  as  the  Poet,  and  in  the  Artist,  an  attentive  eye  will  readily  perceive  historical 
Persons ;  nor  can  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  Muses,  remembering  the  significance 
of  each  thereof,  long  remain  obscure.  Only  miist  Epimethetis,  the  after-thoughted,  who 
receiveth  access  of  vigor  in  looking  backward,  and  grow eth  reversely  from  age  to  youth,  be 
allowed  to  keep  so  much  of  his  secret  as  he  may  conceal. 

Act  III.  dealeth  with  whatever  part  of  this  present  Century  the  intelligent  reader  shall 
consider  most  fitting.  Gcza,  the  Earth- Goddess,  revives,  other-featured  than  of  old ;  the 
Nymphs  resume  a  shadowy  existence  through  new  forms  of  Art  and  Literature  ;  Urania 
fareth  freely  among  men,  putting  forth  haughtier  claims  to  power  ;  and  another  Faith, 
whereof  Calchas,  High- Priest,  represents  the  inflexible,  despotic  Theology,  hath  supplanted 
Medusa  in  the  Lands  of  the  North.  With  this  much  direction,  —  as  it  were  the  silent 
pointing  of  a  finger,  —  the  courteous  reader  vvill  surely  be  content. 

In  the  Fourth  and  closing  Act,  the  Author  ad-ventureth  only  far  enough  into  the  Future 
to  predict  the  beginning  of  an  Era,  of  which  no  simply  loving  and  believing  Creature  of 
God  can  fail  to  discoz>er  the  prophecy  within  his  own  nature.  The  Atithor  wotild  not  dare 
to  lift  the  veil  sufficiently  to  disclose  the  visage  of  that  Era,  even  were  it  given  to  him  to 
behold  the  same  clearly  ;  nor  doth  he  need  to  offer  an  interpretation  of  those  things  which 
the  reader  must  divine  for  himself,  if  he  hath  understood  and  accepted  all  that  foregoes  this 
conclusion.  Such  a  reader  will  everywhere  find,  and  haply  feel,  in  the  Drama,  the  decla 
ration  of  Growth,  Immortality,  God ;  let  him,  comforted  by  whatsoever  of  the  triune  light, 
therefrom  proceeding,  may  rest  upon  the  following  pages,  not  stumble  over  such  matters  as 
are  born  with  the  Ages  and  are  doomed  to  die  with  the  Ages  ! 


CONTENTS. 


ACT  L  — A.   D.   300. 

SCENE  PAGB 

I.    SHEPHERD,  NYMPHS  AND  VOICES 15 

II.      G&A.  AND   EROS 22 

III.  PRINCE  DEUKALION  AND  PYRRHA 28 

IV.  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  CHORUS  OF  GHOSTS  AND  CHARON         .  32 
V.    PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  PROMETHEUS,  EPIMETHEUS        ...  38 

VI.    PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  PROMETHEUS,  PANDORA,  EPIMETHEUS  AND 

Eos 45 

ACT  II.  — A.  D.   1300. 

I.    PRINCE  DEUKALION,  THE  YOUTH,  SHEPHERD  AND  SHEPHERDESS    .       .  52 

II.    MEDUSA,  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  CHORUS  AND  ANTI-CHORUS  .  58 

III.  PYRRHA,  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PROMETHEUS  AND  Eos       ....  66 

IV.  MEDUSA,  THE  NINE  MUSES,  THE  POET  AND  THE  ARTIST  75 
V.    EPIMETHEUS,   URANIA,    SPIRITS    OF  THE  WIND,   THE   SNOW  AND  THE 

STREAM,  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  ECHOES        .        .  84 

ACT  III.  — A.   D.   18— . 

I.    G^EA,  NYMPHS,  EROS,  POET 94 

II.    PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  MAN,  WOMAN 101 

III.  CALCHAS,  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  PROMETHEUS  AND  CHANT    .  109 

IV.  "THE  VISION  OF  PRINCE  DEUKALION" 118 

V.    EPIMETHEUS,  URANIA 124 

VI.    PRINCE  DEUKALION,  PYRRHA,  PROMETHEUS,  EPIMETHEUS  AND  ECHOES  128 


xii  CONTENTS. 


ACT  IV.— A.  D.  ? 

SCENE  PAGI 

I.    AGATHON 137 

II.    URANIA,  AGATHON,  PRINCE  DEUKALION 141 

III.  PROMETHEUS,  BUDDHA,  MEDUSA,  CALCHAS,  AGATHON,   PRINCE  DEUKA 

LION  AND  PYRRHA  .  . '    '  .        .       .  .    148 

IV.  PROMETHEUS,    PANDORA,    EPIMETHEUS,    PRINCE   DEUKALION,    PYRRHA, 

SHEPHERD,  SHEPHERDESS  AND  CHORUS  OF  BUILDERS  .        .        156 

V.    SPIRITS  OF  DAWN,   Eos,  G/EA.,   PYRRHA,  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  CHORUS 

OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN  AND  PROMETHEUS 163 


PERSONS    OF   THE   DRAMA. 


Eos,  Goddess  of  the  Dawn. 

G^EA,  Goddess  of  the  Earth. 

EROS. 

PROMETHEUS. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

PANDORA. 

PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PYRRHA. 

AGATHON. 

MEDUSA. 

CALCHAS  (High- Priest). 

BUDDHA. 

SPIRITS  OF  DAWN. 

NYMPHS. 

VOICES. 

CHORUS  OF  GHOSTS. 

CHARON. 


ANGELS. 

SPIRITS. 

THE  NINE  MUSES. 

URANIA. 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  WIND. 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  SNOW. 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  STREAM. 

ECHOES. 

THE  YOUTH  (Poet)* 

THE  ARTIST. 

POET  (Act  III.). 

SHEPHERD  (Man). 

SHEPHERDESS  ( Woman). 

MEDIEVAL  CHORUS. 

MKDLEVAL  ANTI-CHORUS. 

CHORUS  OF  BUILDERS. 

FOUR  MESSENGERS. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 


ACT    I. 

SCENE   I. 

[A  plain,  sloping  from  high  mountains  towards  the  sea.  At  the  bases  of  the 
mountains  lofty  vaulted  entrances  of  caverns.  A  ruined  temple,  on  a 
rocky  height.  A  Shepherd,  asleep  in  the  shadow  of  a  clump  of  laurels  : 
the  flock  scattered  over  the  plain.'} 

SHEPHERD  (awaking). 

HAVE  I  outslept  the  thunder  ?     Has  the  storm 

Broken  and  rolled  away?     That  leaden  weight 

Which  pressed  mine  eyelids  to  reluctant  sleep 

Falls  off :    I  wake ;    yet  see  not  anything 

As  I  beheld  it.     Yonder  hang  the  clouds, 

Huge,  weary  masses,  leaning  on  the  hills  ; 

But  here,  where  star-wort  grew  and  hyacinth, 

And  bees  were  busy  at  the  bells  of  thyme, 

Stare  flinty  shards  ;    and  mine  unsandal'd  feet 

Bleed  as   I  press  them:    who  hath  wrought  the  change? 

The  plain,  the  sea,  the  mountains,  are  the  same  ; 


1 6  PRINCE  DEUKAL1ON. 

And  there,  aloft,  Demeter's  pillared  house, — 

What !  —  roofless,  now  ?     Are  she  and  Jove   at  strife  ? 

And,  see !  —  this  altar  to  the  friendly  nymphs 

Of  field   and   flock,  the   holy  ones  who  lift 

A   poor  man's  prayer  so  high   the  Gods  may  hear,  — 

Shivered  ?  --  Hath   thunder,  then,  a  double   bolt  ? 

They  said  some  war  of    Titans  was  renewed, 

But  such  should  not  concern  us,  humble  men 

Who  give  our  dues  of  doves  and  yeanling  lambs 

And  mountain  honey.     Let  the  priests  in  charge, 

Who  weigh  their  service  with  our  ignorance, 

Resolve  the  feud !  —  't  is  they  are  answerable, 

Not  we  ;   and  if  impatient  Gods  make  woe, 

We  should  not  suffer ! 

Hark  !  —  what  strain  is  that, 
Floating  about  the  copses  and  the  slopes 
As  in  old  days,  when  earth  and  summer  sang  ? 
Too  sad  to  come  from  their  invisible  tongues 
That  moved  all  things  to  joy  ;  but  I  will  hear. 


NYMPHS. 

We  came  when  you  called  us,  we  linked  our  dainty  being 
With    the    mystery   of    beauty,    in    all    things    fair   and 

brief ; 

But  only  he  hath  seen  us,  who  was  happy  in  the  seeing, 
And  he    hath    heard,   who    listened    in  the    gladness  of 
belief. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  l*, 

As  a  frost  that  creeps,  ere  the  winds  of  winter  whistle, 
And  odors  die  in  blossoms  that  are  chilly  to  the  core, 

Your  doubt  hath  sent  before  it  the  sign  of  our  dismissal ; 
We  pass,  ere  ye  speak  it;  we  go,  and  come  no  more! 

SHEPHERD. 

If  blight  they  threaten,  't  is  already  here; 

Yet  still,  methinks,  the  sweet  and  wholesome  grass 

Will  sometime  spring,  and  softer  rains  wash  white 

My  wethers'  fleeces.     We,  Earth's  pensioners, 

Expect  less  bounty  when  her  store  is  scant; 

But  while  her  life,  though  changed  from  what  it  was, 

Feeds  on  the  sunshine,  we  shall  also  live. 

VOICES  (from  underground}. 

We  won,  through  martyrdom,  the  power  to  aid; 
We  met  the  anguish  and  were  not  afraid  ; 

Like  One,  we  bore  for  you  the  penal  pain. 
Behold,  your  life  is  but  a  culprit's  chance 
To  rise,  renewed,  from  out  its  closing  trance ; 

And,  save  its  loss,  there  is  not  any  gain  ! 

SHEPHERD. 

What  tongues  austere  are  these,  that  offer  help 
Of  loving  lives  ?  —  that  promise  final  good, 
Greater  than  gave  the  Gods,  so  theirs  be  lost? 
Sad  is  their  message,  yet  its  sense  allures, 
And  large  the  promise,  though  it  leaves  us  bare. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

I  would   I  knew  the  secret;  but,  instead, 

I  shudder  with  a  strange,  voluptuous  awe, 

As  when  the   Pythia  spake:  't  is  doom  disguised, 

Choice  offered  us  when  term  of  choice  is  past, 

And  we,  obedient  unto  them  that  choose, 

Are  made  amenable!     Hark,  —  once  again! 

NYMPHS. 

Our  service  hath  ceased  for  you,  Shepherds  ! 

We  fade  from  your  days  and  your  dreams, 
With  the  grace  that  was  lithe   as  a  leopard's, 

The  joy  that  was  swift  as  a  stream's  ! 
To  the  musical  reeds,  and  the  grasses  ; 

To  the  forest,  the  copse,  and  the  clell ; 
To  the  mist,  and  the  rainbow  that  passes; 

The  vine,  and  the  goblet,  —  farewell! 
Go,  drink  from  the  fountains  that  flow  not!  — 

Our  songs  and  our  whispers  are  dumb: 
But  the  thing  ye  are  doing  ye  know  not, 

Nor  dream  of  the  thing  that  shall  come! 


£> 

VOICES. 


Flame  hath  not  melted,  nor  did  earthquake  rend 
The  dungeons  where  we  waited  for  The  End, 

Which  coming  not,  we  issue  forth  to  power. 
We  quench  vain  joy  with  shadows  of  the  grave  ; 
We  smite  your  lovely  wantonness,  to  save ; 

We  hang  Eternity  on  Life's  weak  hour! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 
NYMPHS. 

We  wait  in  the  breezes, 
We  hide  in  the  vapors, 
And  linger  in  echoes, 
Awaiting  recall. 

VOICES. 
The  word  is  spoken,  let  the  judgment  fall ! 

NYMPHS. 

The  heart  of  the  lover, 
The  strings  of  the  psalter, 
The  shapes  in  the  marble 
Our  passing  deplore  : 

VOICES. 
Truth  comes,  and  vanity  shall  be  no  more! 

NYMPHS. 

Not  wholly  we  vanish ; 
The  souls  of  the  children, 
The  faith  of  the  poets 

Shall  seek  us,  and  find. 

VOICES. 
Dead  are  the  things  the  world  has  left  behind, 


20  PRINCE  DEUKAL1ON. 

NYMPHS. 

Lost  beauty  shall  haunt  you 
With  tender  remorses  ; 
And  out  of  its  exile 

The  passion  return! 

VOICES. 
The  flame  shall  purify,  the  fire  shall  burn  ! 

NYMPHS. 

Lift  from  the  rivers 

Your  silver  sandals, 

From  mists  of  the  mountains 

Your  floating  veils  !  - 

From  musky  vineyard, 

And  copse  of  laurel, 

The  ears  that   listened 

For  lovers'  tales  ! 

Let  olives  ripen 

And  die,  untended; 

Leave  oak  and  poplar, 

And  homeless  pine  ! 

Take  shell  and  trumpet 

From  swell  of  surges, 

And  feet  that  glisten 

From  restful  brine! 

As  the  bee  when  twilight 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  21 

Has  closed  the  bell, — 
As  love  from  the  bosom 
When  doubts  compel, 
We  go  :  farewell ! 

SHEPHERD. 

The  strains  dissolve  into  the  hollow  air, 

Yet  something  stays,  —  a  sense  of  distant  woe, 

As  now,  this  hour,  while  the  green  lizards  glide 

Across  the  sun-warmed  stones,  and  yonder  bird 

Prinks  with  deliberate  bill  his  ruffled  plumes, 

Far  off,  in  other  lands,  an  earthquake  heaved 

The  high-towered  cities,  and  a  darkness  fell 

From  twisted  clouds  that  ruin  as  they  pass. 

But,  lo !  —  who  rises  yonder  ?  —  as  from  sleep 

Rising,  slow  movements  of  a  sluggish  grace, 

That  speak  her  gentle,  though  a  Titaness, 

And  strong,  though  troubled  is  her  breadth  of  brow, 

And  eyes  of  strange,  divine  obscurity. 

She  sees  me  not:  I  am  too  mean  for  sight 

Of  such  a  goddess ;  yet,  methinks,  the  milk 

Of  those  large  breasts  might  feed  me  into  that 

Which  once  I  dreamed  I  should  be,  —  lord,  not  slave  ! 


22  PRINCE   DEUKALION. 

SCENE   II. 

\The  Same.} 


I  travail  for  my  children.     Babe,  or  youth, 

Or  man  attempered  unto  utmost  life, 

The  mother's  care  still  follows,  grows  no  less. 

The  swift  impending  change  scarce  other  is 

Than  what  my  sons  have  borne  erewhile,  and  thriven. 

As  the  thin  blood  of  boyhood,  while  it  takes 

The  ripening  power  of  increase  in  its  turn, 

Distrusts  itself,  half  fears  its  own  rich  force, 

So,  now,  it  may  be. 

Yet  —  I  change  with   Man, 
Mother  not  more  than  partner  of  his  fate. 
Ere  he  was  born   I  dreamed  that  he  might  be, 
And  through  long  ages  of  imperfect  life 
Waited  for  him.     Then,  vexed  with  monstrous  shapes 
That  spawned  and  wallowed  in  primeval  ooze, 
I  lay  supine  and  slept,  or  seemed  to  sleep  ; 
And  dreamed,  or  waking  felt  as  in  a  dream 
Some  touch  of  hands,  some  soft,  delivering  help,  - 
And  he  was  there!     His  faint  new  voice   I   heard; 
His  eye  that  met  the  sun,  his  upright  tread, 
Thenceforth  were  mine  !     And  with  him  came  the  palm, 
The  oak,  the  rose,  the  swan,  the  nightingale  : 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  barren  bough  hung  apples  to  the  sun  : 
Dry  stalks  made  harvest :  breezes  in  the  woods 
Then  first  found  music,  and  the  turbid  sea 
First  rolled  a  crystal  breaker  to  the  shore. 
His  foot  was  on  the  mountains,  and  the  wave 
Upheld  him :  over  all  things  huge  and  coarse 
There  came  the  breathing  of  a  regal  sway, 
Which  bent  them  into  beauty.     Order  new 
Followed  the  march  of  new  necessity, 
And  what  was  useless,  or  unclaimed  before, 
Took  value  from  the  seizure  of  his  hands. 

Ah  me,  in  those  old  days  how  near  and  fond 
Was  he,  how  frank  in  passion  or  in  fear 
His  thoughtless  adolescence  !     To  my  life 
The  birth-cord  still  unsevered  held  his  own  : 
He  took  my  comforts,  seeking  none  beyond, 
And  crept  for  shelter  to  my  shielding  arms. 
But  now  —  mistrust,  and  shame  of  aid  outgrown, 
And  bitter  enmity  that  springs  from  shame, 
And  faith  perverse  in  opposite  of  faith, 
Have  made  him  froward.     I  am  forced  to  seem 
She-wolf  or  pantheress,  a  savage  dam, 
And  lose  the  eager  mouth  that  sought  my  dugs, 
Until  its  native  thirst  return:  but  he, - 
Sleep-walking  in  the  senses  once  so  keen, 
With  eyes  uplifted  to  some  distant  crown, 
That,  while  it  burns,  makes  other  glory  dust, — 


24  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

How  long  shall  he  thus  wander?  —  and  how  bear 

The  lack  of  all-sustaining  loveliness? 

Shall  fairest  sights  and  sweetest  sounds  be  dim, 

And  out  of  movement  die  the  rhythm  of  joy, 

And  beauteous  passion  lose  its  power  to  warm  ?  — 

All  freedom,  exultation,  and  delight 

That  lifted  him,  all  energies  and  high  desires 

That  bore  him  forth   as  blow  the  fourfold  winds, 

Be  lashed  and  goaded  on  a  single  path, 

One  iron  chariot  draw  ? 

Lo!  here,  the  Rose; 

The  woman-flower  he  could  not  choose  but  love, 
Shall  he  forget  it?     Shall  he  turn  from  breath 
Distilled  of  bliss  and  bountiful  bright  hours, 
To  taste  the  incense  rank  in  censers  burned, 
Which  seems  to  mask  some  odor  of  decay? 

\_A  bud  on  the  rose-tree  bursts  open  :   EROS  appears. ,] 
EROS. 

Not  yet  am   I  barred  in   Hades, 

Though  a  word  unknown  hath  hurled 
The  Olympian  lords  and    ladies 

To  wail  in  the  nether  world ! 
Let  Proteus  shift  in  ocean 

From  shape  to  shape  that  eludes  : 
I  am  one,  as  the  heart's  devotion, 

Yet  many,  as  lovers'  moods! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


Blithe,  tricksome  spirit  !    Art  thou  left   alone, 
Of  Gods  and  all  their  intermediate  kin 
The  sweet  survivor?    Yet  a  single  seed, 
When  soil  and  seasons  lend  their  alchemy, 
May  clothe  a  barren  continent  in  green. 

EROS. 

Was   I  born,  that  I  should  die  ? 
Stars  that  fringe  the  outer  sky 
Know  me  :  yonder  sun  were    dim, 
Save  my  torch  enkindled  him. 
Then,  when  first  the  primal  pair 
Found  me  in  the  twilight  air, 
I  was  older  than  thy  day, 
Yet  to  them  as  young  as  they. 
All  decrees  of   Fate  I  spurn  ; 
Banishment  is  my  return  ; 
Hate  and  Force  purvey  for  me, 
Death  is  shining  victory! 


Thou  art  the  same,  —  child  of  the  highest  Gods, 
Whatever  shape  they  wear,  and  child  of  mine  ! 
Reclaim  thy  heritage  !  —  I  give  to  thee 
Maytime,  and  music,  and  all  odorous  herbs, 
The  whispers  of  the  woodlands  and    the  waves 


26  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  dewy  lustre  of  acquainted  eyes, 
The  thrill  of  meeting  hands,  and  ah!  at  last 
Of  lips  that  cannot  hold  themselves  apart, 
Save  life,  as  beauty,  perish!  Take  all   these, 
And  whatsoever  else  may  minister 
To  sweet,  insidious  influences  and  arts 
Which  are  thy  being,  —  ply  the  treachery 
That  into  blessing  soon  forgives  itself ; 
Print  thy  soft  iris  on  white  wings  of  prayer; 
Strike  dangerous  delight  through  sacrifice  ; 
And  interpenetrate  the  sterner  faith 
With  finest  essence  of  the  thing  it  spurns ! 

EROS. 

With  the  blind  desires  and  motions 

The  innocent  child  that  guide; 
With  girlhood's  shy  avoidance 

And  boyhood's  bashful  pride  ; 
With  the  arts  that  are  simplest  nature, 

And  the  nature  that  hides  in    art, 
When  the  voice  and  the  cheeks  bear  witness, 

And  the  eye  confesses  the  heart; 
With  the  fond  mistrust,  and  the  frenzy, 

That  falters,  or  sweeps  above, 
When  the  key  to  delight  in  beauty 

Is  held  by  the  hands  of  love ; 
With  the  lore  of  the  world's  renewal 

In  seed  or  in  guarded  bud; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  27 

With  the  plunge  of  the  sportive  dolphin, 

And  the  heat  of  the  panther's  blood,  — 
The  spells  of  my  sway  are  woven, 

The  flame  of  my  being  fed, 
And  I  breathe  in  a  bright  existence, 

Though  the  eldest  Gods  are  dead  ! 
For  Love,  in  the  ashes  of  Empire 

And  the  dust  of  Faith,  is  born ; 
And  the  rose  of  a  kiss  shall  blossom, 

When  blight  has  withered  the  corn  ! 

[EROS   disappears. 
G^EA. 

Needless  to  give! --'tis  he  already  owns. 

Before  the  uncounted  cycles  of  the  Past 

He  was,  or  I  —  even   I  —  had  caught  no  life 

From  the  wide-floating  elements !     Go,  then, 

Thou  beautiful,  bright  secret  of  all  suns, 

All  planets,  and  all  unimaginable  forms 

Upon  them  sown!     Death  and  decay  are  things 

That  dissipate  beneath  thy  radiant  eye: 

So  thou   but  live,  all  else  shall  come  with  thee, 

Now  lost,  or  unto  man's  indifference 

So  seeming ;  yet  it  hides  in  wilful  sport, 

And  million-voiced  laughter  of  the  waves 

And  winds,  and  million  wandering  smiles  of  sun 

Forever  shall  betray  it,  and  assure 

Thy  coming  triumph  !     I  am  calm  at  heart, 

Now  that  I  know  thou  livest :  was   I  mad, 

To  fear,  one  moment,  thou  couldst  ever  die? 


28  PRINCE  DE  UK 'A  LION. 

SCENE  III. 

[A  valley,  at  the  base  of  the  mountains.     On  the  left  the  entrance  to  a.  cavern.'} 
PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Where  art  thou,  Pyrrha? 

PYRRHA    (coming  forward}. 

Dost  thou  call,  at  last? 
Awaiting  the  awakening  of  thy  thought, 
Mine  own  went  wandering. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Whither  ? 

PYRRHA. 

Nay,  why  ask  ? 

What  other  moods  have  heretofore  been  ours 
Than  hope  by  doubt  o'ershadowed,  or  else  doubt 
Made  bearable  by  transient  gleams  of  hope? 
But  now  — 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Now,  courage  !  —  such  as   that  we  felt, 
When  they  who  made  us  and  forefixed  our  fate, 
The  Titans,  fell!     We  saw  the  thunder-blows 
Given  and  taken,  saw  the  ruined  world 
Lie  panting  after  fiercest  throes  endured, 
Till  milder  Gods  brought  knowledge,  peace,  and  power. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  29 

If,  grown  familiar,  these  have  forfeited 
Their  ancient  honor,  or  their  term  is  past, 
We  need  not  question  ;  they  consent  to  see 
Themselves  in  sacred  marble  rebaptized, 
New  meanings,  borrowed  from  an  alien  race, 
Bestowed  on  their  Olympian  emblems,  —  yea, 
The  incense  burned  to  beauty,  grace  and  joy 
Made  dark  and  heavy  by  atoning  pain 
And  crowned  repentance!     Yet,  His  law  is  good 
Who  now  shall  rule  ;    for  they  we  lose  withheld 
The  strength  of  human  hands  from  human  throats, 
Forced  them  to  join,  and  overcome,  and  build, - 
Create,  where  they  destroyed;    but  He  compels 
That  strength    to   help,  and   makes  it  slave   of  Love. 
Thus,  from  the  apathy  of  faith  outworn 
Rises  a  haughty  life,  that  soon  shall  spurn 
The  mould  it  grew  from.     I  foresee  new  strife, 
Mistaken  hopes,  unnecessary  pangs, 
And  yet  —  I  wait. 

PYRRHA. 

And  I  must  wait  with  thee. 
Dost  thou  recall  —  how  long  ago  it  seems  !  - 
Mine  ancient   glory?     Nearest,  then,  I  stood: 
Our  hands  —  ah,  why  not  also  lips? --had  met, 
And  o'er  thy  head  I  saw  the  hovering  crown 
Take  substance  from  the  air,  and  flash  on  me 
A  glow  I  hoped  was  beauty,  knew  was  love! 


30  PRINCE  DEUKALION 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

'Twas  when  that  ether,  where  the  Ages  still 
Unwrinkled  sit,  touched  by  no  dread  of  time, 
Was  ours  to  breathe,  earth's  only  sky  serene. 
Why  were  we  banished  ?     Still  that  heritage 
Exists  :    beyond  the  dark-blue,  dimpled  sea 
Lie  sands  and  palms,   the  Nile's  wide  wealth    of   corn, 
And  soaring  pylons,  granite  roofs  upheld 
By  old  Osirid  columns :    there  the  sun 
Sheds  broader  peace  in  all  his   aged  beams, 
And  hoary  splendor  on  uncrumbled  stone. 
There  still  the  star  Canopus  sends  the  dew, 
Though  sound  of  sistrum  in  the  dusky  halls 
Has  ceased,  and  Memnon  lost  his  morning  song. 
Well  thou   rememberest,  Pyrrha  !  —  that  which  was, 
Once  in  the  Past,  flies  forward,  like  a  string 
Sharp  struck,  and  straightway  in  the  Future  plants 
Its  brighter  phantasm  :    more  than  was,  shall  be  ! 

PYRRHA. 

My  heart  is  lifted,  and  my  spirit  feeds 
Upon  thy  words. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Pure,  patient,  brave,  thou  art ; 
But  they  who  set  thee  back,  despoiled  thy  head 
Of  separate  honor,  and  postponed  my  right 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  31 

Through  thine  refused,  were  their  progenitors 
Whose  kingdom  cometh.     Thee   they  may  restore 
To  equal  freedom  to  renounce  and  bear, — 
Like  martyrdom  :    lend  me  thy  finer  sense 
To  see  beyond ! 

PYRRHA. 

So  much  the  Titans  gave! 
Yet  that,  reclaimed,  is  one  fulfilment  more. 
Pain  is  to  me  what  conflict  is  to  thee,  - 
A  joy,  when  born  of  large  necessity. 
What  musest  thou  ?     I  see  thine  eyes'  clear  light 
Recede  within  their  depths,  as    in  a  lake 
Its  surface-azure  when  the  cloud  sails  o'er. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Erelong  some  spasm  of  the  vexed  Earth  shall  close 

This  cavern's  mouth,  the  last,  sole  entrance  left 

To  Hades :   I  would  once  more  see  the  face 

And  hear  the  counsel  of  my  Titan  sire, 

Prometheus,  where  he  sits  in  sunless  air, 

Not  suffering,  haply,  neither  glad.     And  thou, 

Heiress  of  gifts  interpreted  as  woe, 

Since  the  divinest  fate  wears  evil  face 

To  mortals,  let  thy  steps  companion  mine ! 

Terrors  shalt  thou  behold,  and  threatening   forms, 

And  with  the  stress  of  stern  eternal  words 

Thy  brain  may  falter:    canst  thou  hear  the  doom 

Which  sifts  the  ages  as  the  fingers  sand, 


32  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

And  plays  with  hope,  and  patience,  and  despair, 
Like  beads  upon  a  string,  —  inexorable, 
Fixed  from  the  first  ? 

PYRRHA. 

So  I  be  near  to  thee. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Touch,  then,  my  hand  !     It  is  permitted  us 
To  feel  each  other's  blood,  but  nothing  more, 
Till  that  far  day  when  our  betrothal-kiss 
Asserts  the  victory  sure,  the  empire  won  ! 

\They  pass  into  the  cavern. 


SCENE    IV. 

\_A  spacious,  arched  cavern,  opening  upon  a  shadowy,  colorless  landscape. 
Enter  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  leading  PYRRHA.] 

CHORUS    OF    GHOSTS. 

Away ! 

Ashes  that  once  were  fires, 
Darkness  that  once  was  day, 
Dead  passions,  dead  desires, 

Alone  can  enter  here  ! 
In  rest  there  is  no  strife, 
And  memory  is  not  life : 

We  neither  hope  nor  fear. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Like  some  forgotten  star, 
What  first  we  were,  we  are. 
The  Past  is  adamant : 
The  Future  will  not  grant 
That,  which  in  all  its  range 
We  pray  for  —  Change  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

You  found  the  thing  you  sought  :    what  fashioned  else 
These  sunless  realms  ?    If  change  may  verily  come 
Even  to  spirits,  teach  your  dim  desire 
A  form  whereby  to  know  itself,  and  seek ! 

CHORUS    OF   GHOSTS. 

Retreat !    Retreat, 
Unwelcome  feet! 
Whom  doth  not  blast 
The  horror  of  his   Past, 
Who  dares  to  see 
Himself  in  memory, 
And  thus  reclaim 
The  inevitable  shame, 
Him  only  suffer  we! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Prepare  your  test ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

What  thing  is  here  designed? 
Thy  face  is  pale,  despite  the  firm-set  lips, 
And  level  glance  of  thine  unshrinking  eyes  : 
No  passing  pain  awaits  thee. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Nay,  but  power 

That  grows  from  pain  !     Hear'st  thou  the  whistling  rush 
Of  many  wings  that  part  the  heavy  air, 
And  bat-like  cries,  thin,  impotent  of  sound, 
That  now  betray  the  disconcerted  ghosts 
Huddling  before  us  to  the  river-bank? 


PYRRHA. 


If  I  behold  these  things  I  seem  to  see, 

I  know  not :    yonder  lies  a  dreary  marsh, 

Such  as  at  ebb  for  many  a  league  deforms 

A  river's  narrowing  mouth;    gray  sedges  wave, 

Unwhispering  ever,  o'er  the  slimy  flats, 

Beyond  which  glooms  the  semblance  of  a  shore. 

But  who  is  this,  so  haggard,  limp  and   old, 

Approaching  us?     As  with  uncertain  joints 

He  walks,  still  held  erect  by  senile  wrath, 

That  shoots  dull  gleams  from  sleep-desiring  eyes, 

Were  sleep  permitted  here. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 


'T  is  surely  he, 
The  ancient  ferryman  of  Hades  ! 


CHARON. 


Ay, 

Nor  vanquished  yet !    Where  wait  the  ghosts  of  men  ? 

Hath  Death  been  dispossessed  ?     The  upper  world 

With  tears  and  due  libations  feeds  no  more 

My  sullen  river:  muddy  shallows  grow 

From  either  side,  and  trespass  on  my  right, 

Till  soon  dishonest  ghosts  may  wade  across. 

Yet,  wherefore  do  I  question  ?     You,  I  guess, 

Intend  no  answer,  and  eternal  Fate 

Hath  left  for  you  one  power  of  entrance  still. 

You  seek  not  Lethe  :    so  much  say  your  eyes. 

Here  lies  the  other  pool,  as  charged  with   light 

As  that  with  darkness,  —  awful   Memory, 

More  dread  to  bear  than  black  Forgetfulness  : 

Look,  or  go  hence  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I    look. 

PYRRHA. 

And  I  with  thee. 


^6  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Forbear!    The  knowledge  must  be  mine  alone.  - 

Within  the  moveless  crystal   depths,  far  down, 

The  rings  of  ages  widen  and  dissolve 

The  while   I  gaze:    distinct,  abominable, 

I  see  ourselves,  before  the  Titans  were; 

I  see  the  bestial  base,  unpurified, 

Its  hideous  features  smeared  with  filth  and  blood, 

Its  rites  unspoken,  acts  unspeakable, 

Wild  savage  instinct  beating  back  the  brain, 

Low  savage  greed  a  despot  in  the  heart, 

And  all  that  ever  since  mixed  foul  alloy 

With  the  bright  metal  of  our  dreams, — despair 

Should  the  defiant  God  within  us  fail- 

\_He  pauses. 
PYRRHA. 

Say  on,  nor  spare  my  service!    Shall  I  see, 
Thus,  only,  in  the  mirror  of  thy  speech, 
The  unfeatured  truth  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION     (to     CharOH). 

Is  there  aught  more  than  this  ? 

CHARON. 

Look ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  37 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Nay  !  —  the  forms  grow  dim  ;    and  under  all 
There  shines  a  face  that  is,  methinks,  mine  own  ! 

[Lifting  his  head. 

What  flimsy  pride  was  pierced  so,  heretofore  ? 
There  is  no  shame  save  what  begets  itself 
On  old  remorse,  that  keeps  its  cause  alive. 
I  see,  nor  shudder :    vice  outlived  is  dead, 
And  feeds  its  purest  opposite  in  us. 
No  scent  of  mould  is  on  the  rose's  leaves  ; 
No  stain  of  slime  degrades  the  lotus-cup  ! 
Slave  of  the  Gods,  thy  lease's  term  still  holds: 
Perform  thy  duty ! 

CHARON. 

Take  the  oars  yourselves, 

And,  to  your  sorrow,  cross  !     My  purse  is  lean, 
So  rarely  comes  an  obolus :    the  boat 
Leaks,  the  worn  handles  of  the  ancient  blades 
Rattle  between  the  thole-pins.     Could  I  push 
The  beggar  ghosts  off,  crowd  my  bark  with  rich, 
Enjoy  authority,  take  delight  in  force, 
My  limbs  were  suppler;    but  some  power  grows  slack 
In  the  world's  order.     One  gets  old  and  lame, 
And  then  the  Gods  themselves  forget  their  words. 
Do  as  you  list:    nor  hinder  I,  nor  help. 

[PRINCE  DEUKALION  and  PYRRHA  enter  the  boat. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


CHORUS    OF    GHOSTS. 


They  go ! 
Cleaving  alone  the  stagnant  flow 

Of  our  deserted  river  : 

Who  thus  defies  the  menace  and  the  test? 
Is  he  some  hero  whom  the  Gods  invest 
With  warrant  to  deliver  ? 

Though  his  disdain 
Sharpens  our  slow,  devouring  pain, 
There  wakes  an  echo  in  his  word 
Of  what  in  faded  aeons  once  we  heard, 
That  change  may  come  again  ! 

We  wait : 

Uncertainty  at  last  may  bend 
Divine  decrees,  and  end 
Our  fixed  monotony  of  fate ! 


SCENE  V. 

[The  Ely sian  Fields.} 
PYRRHA. 

Here  can  I  breathe  :  the  sight  of  cloudy  groves 
And  meadows  of  familiar  asphodel ; 
The  broader  lift  of  this  gray  vault  o'erhead, 
Half-luminous,  as  pregnant  with  a  sun; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  39 

The  atmosphere  of  grand  extinguished  aims, 
Suspended  hopes  or  foiled  ambitions,  —  give 
Cheer  to  my  soul ;  for  thus  in  death  survives 
Something  that  will  not  die. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Why,  death  's  a  thing 
For  who  deserve  it !  —  We  defy,  and  live. 

PYRRHA. 

What  shapes  are  these,  that,  as  we  walk,  float  on 
Beside  us  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Sovereign  souls,  immortal  lives, 
That,  as  a  spring  through  myriad  secret  veins 
Collects  the  dew  and  rain-fall,  in  themselves 
Unite  all  scattered  longings  of  the  race, 
All  formless  hope  and  high  necessity, 
Distilled  through  earth  to  be  divinely  clear 
And  flow  forever!     As  in  them  we  live, 
So  they  in  us :  he,  with  the  bended  brow 
And  parted  waves  of  his  luxuriant  hair, 
Shall  yield  his  shadowy  forehead  to  the  thorn 
And  take  a  holier  name:  he,  further  off, 
Within  whose  dim,  dark  eyes  lie  dreams  of  truth 
He  never  reached,  aspires  in  later  souls ; 
And  yonder  king  who  love  and  lordship  gave 
To  find  Humanity,  and  grew  a  God, 


4°  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Now  first  is  regal.     These  are  not  the  ghosts 
Whom  irreversible  fiat  fetters  here: 
They  range  the  universe. 

PYRRHA. 

Can  they  give  help? 

PRINCE  DEUKALION: 

Yea!     Faith  in  glorious  possibilities 
At  last  secures  them. 

PYRRHA. 

See  !  —  our  path  ascends, 
And  near  us,  pedestal'd  above  the  meads, 
Towers  a  rocky  platform,  wide  and  vast, 
Where  dim  Titanic  forms,  grouped  statue-wise, 
Express  so  much  of  old  expectancy 
As  saves  them  from  despair. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  see  those  shapes, 

And  out  of  long  oblivion  memory  breaks 
To  tell  me  who  they  are.     Pass  we  the  first, 
Whose  haggard  brows  and  ignorant  dull  eyes 
No  promise  hold:  but  yonder,  on  the  rise, 
Who  leans  with  folded  arms  against  the  stone? 
Whose  forehead,  trenched  with  subjugated  pain, 
Still  keeps  the  whiteness  of  a  rising  star? 


PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LI  ON.  4! 

Whose  lips,  that  lock  the  wisdom  of  the  world, 
Have  sweetness  left  for  love?     Whose  huge  bare  limbs 
Affright  not,  as  their  force  were  sheathed  in  guile, 
But  rest,  in  absence  of  the  helping  deed? 

PYRRHA. 
Is  he  thy  sire  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Prometheus,  Titan  still! 

Seem  not  reliant,  —  loose  thy  clinging  hand, 
And  call  the  proudest  blood  that  woman  owns 
To  prop  thine  equal  claim ! 

PROMETHEUS  (rising). 

Come  ye  with  prayers, 
Depart ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Nay,  neither  suppliant  nor  subdued ! 
If  no  celestial  ichor  in  thy  veins 
Throbs  warm  as  blood,  —  no  instinct  in  thy  heart 
Recalls  the  primal  purpose,  and  renews,  - 
No  will  rekindles,  not  to  war  with  fate, 
But  be,  thyself,  the  delegate  of  fate,- 
Then  are  we  not  thy  children! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Ye  are  mine. 
I  know  ye  now :  will  may  defiance  seem, 


42  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Confronted  with  the  force  that  would  destroy. 
Thence  was  I  punished ;  but  I  set  in  Man 
Immortal  seeds  of  pure  activities, 
By  mine  atonement  freed,  to  burst  and  bloom 
In  distant,  proud  fulfilment.     When  that  day 
Has  dawned  on  earth,  I  need  no  messenger: 
My  pilfered  strength  shall  of  itself  return, 
And  all  I  purposed  be,  ere  I  command. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  came  to  question,  but  thy  ready  words 
Have  almost  answered. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Ask,  and  I  will  speak ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Fore-knowledge,  eager  to  fulfil  itself, 

And  too  impatient  of  reverse  that  foiled, 

Provoked  thy  torture:  how  shall  speech  of  mine 

Shadow  the  grandeur  of  thine  early  aim, 

Living  in  us  ?     Thou  knowest,  without  my  words. 

But  change  like  this,  that  now  hath  fallen  on  earth, 

Came  never:  never  such  consoling  love 

Made  overthrow,  such  promise  with  one  hand 

Gave  royally,  the  other  taking  back. 

These  things  confuse  my  mind ;  but  all,  to  thee,  — 

Both  this  and  what  hereafter  comes,  —  is  known. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  43 

Say,  only,  shall  thy  meditated  plans, 
As  in  my  soul  they  stir,  and  hold  me  up 
O'er  all  discouragement  of  time  and  change, 
Prevail  at  last? 

PROMETHEUS. 

If  what  I  planned  could  fail, 
Were  I  thy  sire?     He  who  defied  the  Gods 
Dares  Time  and  Change,  and  all  reverse  of  Fate. 
I  willed  what  I  foresaw:  because  I  willed, 
What  I  foresaw  shall  be ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  seek  no  more. 

PROMETHEUS. 

But  will  excludes  not  love.     Since  thou,  adrift, 

And  that  immortal  woman  by  thy  side, 

Floated  above  submerged  barbarity 

To  anchor,  weary,  on  the  cloven  mount, 

Thou  wast  my  representative.     My  work 

Is  wrought  in  thee ;    thy  mother's  deed,  in  her, 

Shall  yet  be  justified.     Beyond  what  hope 

Comes  to  thy  blood  through  sense  of  kin  with  mine, 

Take  one  new  comfort  —  Epimetheus  lives  ! 

Though  here,  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  crags, 

He  seems  to  slumber,  head  on  nerveless  knees, 

His  life  increases ;  oldest  at  his  birth, 

The  ages  heaped  behind  him  shake  the  snow 


44  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

From  hoary  locks,  and  slowly  give  him  youth. 
'T  is  he  shall  be  thy  helper:   Brother,  rise! 

EPIMETHEUS  (coming forward). 

I  did  not  sleep  ;    I  mused.     Ha !    comest  thou, 
Deukalion  ?     Once   I  thought  thee  strange,  distraught, 
But  now  —  so  many  things  have  happened  since - 
I   think   I  know  thee. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Soon  thy  work  shall  come ! 
Reversely  miscreated,  forward  mind 
In  thee  made  backward-looking,  shame  shall  cease 
When  midway  on  their  paths  our  mighty  schemes 
Meet,  and  complete  each  other!     Yet,  my  son, 
Deukalion,  —  yet  one  other  guide   I  give, 
Eos! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Eos? 

PYRRHA. 

Eos? 

PROMETHEUS. 

What  echoes  these  ? 

Who  else  than  she,  the  genitrix  of  light, 
The  mother  of  the  morning  ? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Half  I  know. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  45 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Older  than  thou,  the  stealer  of  the  fire  ! 
More  hope  in  thy  mysterious  message  lies 
Than  certain-featured  forms,  of  prophecy. 
But  where,  when,  how,  shall  I  approach  her  sky, 
And  win  her  favoring  face  ? 

PROMETHEUS. 

Come  ye  with  me ! 


SCENE  VI. 

\The  highest  verge  of  the  rocky  table-land  of  Hades,  looking  eastward.] 

PROMETHEUS. 

O  Goddess  of  the  far,  flushed  fields  of  Heaven, 
Swiftly  enthroned  between  the  moon  and  sun, 
And  swiftly  passing  as  thy  roses  die, 
To  make  us  love  thee  more ;    the  dewy-eyed 
And  blossom-sandal'd  opener  of  eyes; 
Quickener  of  human  hearts,  yea,  hearts  of  Gods, 
Not  one  so  stubborn  but  thy  smile  subdues 
To  tenderness  ;    in  whom  all  light  and  love 
Are  one,  at  whose  pure  lamp  all  rising  Hours 
Of  hope  and  deed  and  victory  snatch  fire 
For  torches  soon  extinguished  else,  —  appear ! 


46  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Deceived  so  many  times,  why  should  she  dip 
Her  shining  robes  in  this  unfriendly  gloom, — 
Why  smirch  the  star  that  on  her  forehead  burns 
And  breathe  these  vapors,  when  the  brighter  earth 

Forgets  her  ? 

PYRRHA. 

Speak  not  thus!     What  virtue  lies 
More  in  achievement  than  its  hot  desire  ? 
To  shake  the  drowsed   indifference  of  men 
Even  Gods  are  powerless  :   thy  wisdom  wears 
Sad  colors  of  experience  ;  dark  thou  showest 
Against  the  light  whereto  we  set  our  brows.  — 
But  thou,  who  waitest  near,  as  one  too  proud 
Or  to  evade  or  spurn  shame  undeserved,  — 
Unhappy  wert  thou  woman,  angry  if 
A  goddess,-  tranquil  being  neither,  —  speak  ! 

PANDORA. 

No  other  words  had  opened  patient   lips. 

I  have  not  made  complaint,  though  every  sin 

Still  cheats  its  base  possessor  to  transfer 

Its  blame  to  me,  —  though  she,  who  now  my  place 

Usurps,  takes  Egypt's  serpent  for  the  Gods, 

And  eats  the  apple,  not  on  Ida's  hill ! 

The  passion  of  the  race  offends  its  pride, 

So  this  turns  back  on  that,  and  finds  its  source  — 

Where,  but  in  us  ?     Wilt  thou  accept  it  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  47 


PYRRHA. 

No! 

PANDORA. 

There  is  no  sign  in  yonder  moveless  mist 

That  she  hath  heard:    thine  answer  bids  me  call. — 

O  Goddess,  that  from  sleep  and  guilty  dreams 

Sprung  from  the  dregs  of  day,  from  weary  vice 

And  all  suspended  selfishness  of  men, 

Bidst  one  pure  moment  breathe  upon  the  world, 

Renewing  youth  and  beauty  ere  the  sun 

Shall  lighten  wrinkles  and  thin  hair,  —  whose  heart 

Dreams  back  Tithonus   and  dear  early  love, 

And  morning  visions  of  unwedded  girls, 

And  sweet  desires  of  uncorrupted  men, 

Shy  as  thou  art,  because    divinely  proud, 

Proud  as  thou  art,  because  divinely  pure, 

Hear  thou  my  woman's  voice  ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Thine  hath  she  heard, 

Faint,  rosy  gleams,  unused  to  Hades,  steal 
Forth  from  the  sullen  vapor:  here  no  star 
May  rise  before  her,  nor   the  clover-dews 
Refresh  her  feet ;  but  every  nightly  crag 
And  jutting  foreland  of  invisible  hills 
Is  angered  with  the  glory! 


48  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PANDORA. 

Goddess,  rise ! 

Forgive  the  darkness,  not  of  us  :  so  much 
As  we  may  see,  so  much  may  hear,  reveal! 

[A  sound,  as  of  trumpets. 

EOS  (unseen). 

So  far  away 

From  my  high  vestibule  of  Day, 
What  voices  call  ? 

PROMETHEUS. 

Titan  and  human,  each  and  all. 

EOS. 

I,  long  withdrawn, 

Leave  to  my  Hours  the  service  of  the  Dawn  : 
The  Earth,  henceforth,  shall  see 
Only  their  lower  ministry. 
But  when  the  race 
Lifts  unto  me  a  fixed,  believing  face, 
I  will    return  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Say,  shall  not  I  that  distant  glory  earn  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  49 

EOS. 

Thou  !  —  thou  and  she, 
Inheritors  of  holy  destiny ! 

Faith,  when  none  believe ; 

Truth,  when  all   deceive  ; 

Freedom,  when  force  restrains  ; 

Courage  to  sunder  chains  ; 

Pride,  when  good  is  shame  ; 

Love,  when  love  is  blame,  - 
These  shall  call  me  in  stars  and  flame! 

Thus  if  your  souls  have  wrought, 
Ere  ye  approach  me,  I  shine  unsought ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Yea,  under  thee  the  wavering  tide 
Of  the  Ages  that,  stream-like,  wind  as  they  glide, 

Shall  mirror  or  lose  the  gleam, 
And  brighten  as  truth  or  darken  as  dream ! 

EOS. 

If  he  but  guard  his  youth, 

His  dream  shall  be  wondrous  truth  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Call,  command! — I  obey: 
When  there  is  Dawn,  there  shall  be  Day! 
4 


50  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

I  feel,  I  love,  I  see!  — 
Faithful  to  him  is  faith  in  thee. 

EOS. 

Oft  shall  I  lift  the  dark 
With  fringe  of  brightness  and  starry  spark; 

Oft  shall  I  seem  to  rise 

With  the  glory  of  Gods  in  the  waiting  skies; 
But  the  Hour  shall  miss  its  place, 
And  the  shadow  recede  on  the  dial's  face! 
Say,  are  ye  strong 
To  endure  the  wrong 
That  cheats  the  promise  and  mocks  the  trust? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  have  borne,  and  shall  bear,  —  because  I  must. 

PYRRHA. 

The  end  shall  crown  us:  The  Gods  are  just. 

EOS. 

When  darkness  falls, 
And  what  may  come  is  hard  to  see; 

When  solid  adamant  walls 
Seem  built  against  the  Future  that  should  be; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  51 

When  Faith  looks  backward,  Hope  dies,  Life  appals, 
Think  most  of  Morning,  and  of  me ! 

\The  rosy  glow  in  the  sky  fades  away. 

PROMETHEUS  (to  Prince  Deukalion). 
Go  back  to  Earth,  and  wait ! 

PANDORA  (to  Pyrrha). 
Go :  and  fulfil  our  fate  ! 


ACT  II. 

SCENE  I. 

[A  wayside  shrine,  opposite  a  fountain.  Fragments  of  antique  sculpture - 
among  others  the  head  of  a  Muse  — appear  in  the  wall  of  a  -vineyard, 
bordering  the  road.  PRINCE  DEUKALION,  seated  on  a  rude  stone  bench, 
beside  the  fountain^ 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

MY  limbs  are  weary,  now  the  hoping  heart 
No  more  can  lift  their  burden  and  its  own. 
The  long,  long  strife  is  over;  and  the  world, 
Half  driven  and  half  persuaded  to  accept, 
Seems  languidly  content.     As  from  the  gloom 
Of  sepulchres  its  gentler  faith  arose, 
Austere  of  mien,  the  suffering  features  worn, 
With  lips  that  loved  denial,  closed  on  pain, 
And  eyes  accustomed  to  the  lift  of  prayer. 
The  suns  of  centuries  have  not  wholly  warmed 
Those  chilly  pulses;  scarce  those  funeral  robes 
Permit  some  colored  broidery  of  joy; 
And  half  the  broken  implements  that  fell 
From  conquered  hands  of  Knowledge  and  of  Art 
Are  still  unwielded.     From  its  first  proud  height 
Humanity  must  bend;  and  so,  neglecting  these,— 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


53 


Defenceless  through  its  ignorance  renewed, — 
One  pair  of  hands  has  grasped  the  common  right, 
And  one  intelligence  the  thought  of  all! 

Are  he  and  she,  who  now  approach  this  shrine, 
Other  than  when  the  conquering  demigods, 
Fair  forms  triumphant  on  high  pedestals, 
Sat  where  yon  saint,  head  downwards  on  the  cross, 
Blends  torture  with  distortion  ?     What !     Shall  pain 
Uplift  and  save,  spilt  blood  and  dreadful  death 
The  fair,  discrowned  serenities  of  Gods 
Make  impotent?     But  I  will  hear  once  more 
The  subject  faith,  the  helplessness,  the  fear. 

[SHEPHERD  and  SHEPHERDESS  comefoward  and  kneel  before  the  shrine.     Af 
ter  devotions  made,  they  rise.~\ 


SHEPHERD. 


To  her,  Our  Lady,  Lily,  Star  of  the  Sea, 
Five  hundred  have  I  told  upon  these  beads  ; 
To  him,  now,  fifty:  since  he  keeps  the  keys, 
Somewhat  he  may  expect.     Save  that  our  saints 
Grow  covetous  of  prayer  as  priests  of  pay, 
And  sins  provoke  in  order  to  absolve, 
Our  faith  were  easy. 

SHEPHERDESS. 

She,  if  any,  hears  ! 
Her  eyes  are  tender,  and  her  virgin  breast 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Fed  not  more  lovingly  the  Child  of  God, 
Than  mine  feeds  mine. 

SHEPHERD. 

Ay,  safe  by  chrism  and  cross 
Is  he  :  no  demons  near  his  cradle  hide ! 
Fast  goes  with  feast,  the  penance  with  the  gift, 
Like  good  and  evil  seasons:  pay  your  dues 
And  make  them  debtors!     T  is  a  plain  account 
Heaven  keeps  with  earth,  unless  the  stewards  lie. 

SHEPHERDESS. 

And,  after  her,  how  fair  the  martyr-youth 
Who  sees  his  coming  crown,  and  will  not  heed 
The  arrow  quivering  in  his  golden  side! 
Lover  to  maids,  to  me  a  brother,  son 
To  women  age-despoiled,  —  could  once  his  eyes 
Droop  downward,  he  would  pity,  love  and  save. 

SHEPHERD. 

Why  should  they  make  the  Demons  beautiful, 

And  give  our  shrines  to  holy  ugliness? 

Cecilia,  sitting  at  her  organ-keys, 

And  Barbara,  queen-like  with  her  large,  calm  eyes, 

Should  be  my  goddesses,  dared  I  select: 

One  is  too  pure  to  guess  men's  easy  sins, 

The  other  wise  to  pardon.     As  we  go, 

Sing  thou  with  me  her  mellow  canticle  ! 

[Exeunt,  singing. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

For  the  secret  faith  adored, 

Thou  wast  sent,  by  spear  and  sword, 

Out  of  Egypt  to  the  Lord, 

Holy  Barbara! 

From  the  sun  upon  the  sand 
And  the  stars  on  either  hand, 
From  the  glory  of  the  land 

Taken,  Barbara! 
By  the  victory  over  pain 
In  the  tower  where  thou  wast  slain,  - 
By  thy  sacrifice  and  gain, 

Hear  us,  Barbara! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

In  these  new  names  extinguished  miracles 

Sweetly  renew  themselves  :  disparaged  types, 

Torn  from  the  pagan  world  and  set  in  ours, 

Become  again  divine.     But,  stay!  who  comes 

With  brow  unbound  and  visionary  eyes, 

And  nervous  hands  that  clutch  as  if  they  sought 

The  antique  plectrum  and  the  chorded  shell? 

No  wayside  orison  arrests  his  feet, 

Yet  doth  he  pause  ;  a  dream  within  his  blood 

Casts  old  divinity  on  yonder  Muse, 

And  far  ^Egean  echoes  in  his  ears 

Reach  the  forgotten  sense. 


56  PRIA7CE  DEUKALION. 

THE  YOUTH  (to  himself}. 

Be  it  sacrilege, 

I  must  adore  thee !     Yea,  with  hands  that  touch 
The  wounds  of  him  upon  thy  ruin  throned, 
Approach  thee  ;  none  of  all  the  hosts  that  save 
So  gaze  serenely  over  strife  and  time, 
Beholding  Beauty,  being  beautiful ! 
I  know  not  if  I  know  thee ;    yet  I  know 
What  in  my  soul  endeavors  to  thyself  — 
Seeks  consecration !     Vacant  are  thine  eyes, 
Cold  thine  insulted  brow  and  mute  thy  lips, 
Yet,  Goddess,  to  thy  menial  place  I  bend, 
And  give  thee  honor ! 

[He  stoops  and  kisses  the  lips  of  the  Muse. 
PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

She  will  give  it  back. 

THE  YOUTH  (after  a  pause). 

Who,  then,  art  thou  ?      No  pulse  in  all  my  soul 

Hast  thou  abashed  ;  but,  rather,  force  and  flame 

Of  scarcely  self-confessed  ambition  rise 

As  I  behold  thee  :  Somewhat  of  her  face 

Grows  into  broader  majesty  in  thine, 

But  human,  as  in  them  that  must  endure. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  57 

PRINCE   DEUKALION. 

As  thou  must!     Out  of  all  that  was   I  come, 
Awaiting  all  that  shall  be  ;  they  that  know, 
Behold  me  ever. 

THE   YOUTH. 

Let  me  know,  behold  ! 
Thou  seem'st  the  shape  of  what  I  dare  to  dream. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Do  thou  my  work !     Through  hates  and  battles  walk  ; 

Eat  bitter  bread  of  strangers  ;  lose  thy  land  ; 

Give  up  thy  gentle  love,  to  find  once  more, 

An  angel  guide,  the  lily  in  her  hand  ; 

Scourge  brazen  power,  and    hunt  hypocrisy 

To  where  it  hides,  the  olden  Hades  lost, 

In  tortured  circles  of  your  later  Hell  ; 

Become  a  voice  where  terror  sheathes  itself 

In  music,  Pity,  a  dove  in  whirlwinds  tossed, 

Pleads  out  of   agony,  and  primal  Love 

And  highest  Wisdom  set  alike  for  thee 

The  gate  of  Dis,  the  mount  of  Paradise ! 

THE    YOUTH. 

Thou  speak'st  as  mine  own  soul. 


58  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

The  sight  unsealed, 

Without  the  courage,  seeing,  to  advance, 
Were  but  a  curse ;  but  thou  shalt  be  a  name 
Which  is  eternal  power,  and  from  thy  pangs, 
As  by  fierce  heat,  the  chains  be  fused  apart, 


Which  now  the  tears  of  ages  rust  in  vain. 


{Exeunt. 


SCENE   II. 

{Grand  hall  of  a  palace.     MEDUSA,  seated  on  a  throne  of  gold,  a  triple  crown 

iipon  her  head.     Four  Messengers  standing   near.~\ 
• 

MEDUSA. 

Say  to  the  East,  her  gateway  of  return 

Stands  open,  though  the  hinges  creak  with  rust: 

Whence  came  the  light  her  darkness   dare  not  bide. 

The  seven  lamps  of  Dawn  have  followed  us, 

And  grown  to  suns,  above,  beneath  our  feet, 

On  right  hand  and  on  left:  the  Day  is  ours. 

\_Exit  First  Messenger. 

Say  to  the  South,  the  savor  of  her  gifts 
Delights  us  as  of  old :  the  faint,  thin  breath 
Of  her  ascetic  watches,  sprinkled  blood 
Of  self-inflicted  penance,  speech  grown  hoarse 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  59 

In  solitude,  and  visions  born  of  brains 
Dishumanized,  have  reached  us  and  refreshed! 

{Exit  Second  Messenger. 

Say  to  the  West,  we  ask  no  more  than  she 
Erewhile  hath  given,  eager  and  whole  assent; 
So  flashing  back  the  surplus  of  her  light 
As  a  strong  sunset  fires  the  unwilling  East! 

{Exit  Third  Messenger. 

Say  to  the  North,  the  firmest  hand  is  love's  ! 
Except  in  force  there  is  no  help:  in  faith 
Abides  no  jealousy.     We  hear  her  threats 
In  patience,  as  the  frowardness  of  will 
That  brooks  no  other,  until  taught  by  loss. 
Let  her  find  freedom,  and,  as  heretofore, 
Finding,  be  cheated!     Dreams  of  passing  days,- 
Selected  truth  of  ages,  —  which  shall  stand? 
Foreseeing  penitence,  we  pardon  now! 

{Exit  Fourth  Messenger. 
(Sola.} 

Not  vainly  did  I  bide  my  time :  for  Power, 
A  tree  of  cautious  growth,  shows  stunted  top 
Until  the  meshes  of  its  wandering  roots 
Have  crept  in  secret  to  the  choicest  clay; 
Then,  shooting  firm  and  spreading  boughs  abroad, 
Resistance  withers,  rival  force  lacks  room 
Beneath  its  shade.     Now,  planted  for  all  time, 
Kings  are  my  vassals,  Knowledge  bids  me  fix 
Her  bounds  of  liberty!     By  failure  taught 


60  PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LION. 

To  seem  to  lose  for  sake  of  later  gain; 
With  small  success,  until  the  greater  come, 
Content;  forgetful  never  of  the  end, 
What  hinders  me  to  make  my  single  will, 
Sheathed  in  invulnerable  divinity, 
The  world's  one  law  ? 

\_A  pause ;  she  listens. 

"Growth  is  the  law,  —  or  death." 
Who  spake  ?     Or  was  it  some  last  echo  blown 
From  ended  struggles  ?     Growth   is  mine  to  give  ! 
Have  I  kept  life  for  all  that  in  the  Past 
Men  clung  to,  fed  the  old,  barbaric  sense 
With  what  it  loves,  and  paved  an  easy  way 
Between  two  worlds  to  suit  the  halting  crowd,  — 
And  am  not  potent  ?     'T  is  the  single  life, 
Proud  of  small  gifts,  defiant  in  brief  power, 
That  mocks  the  broad  authority  of  time. 
Through  vice  or  perfect  virtue  comes  alike 
Obedience ;  this  because  it  questions  not, 
And  that,  from  need  of  pardon.     Having  these, 
Whatever  third  between  them  lies  must  soon 
Bend,  or  be  crushed  :  I  rule,  while  I  exist ! 

\Enter  PRINCE  DEUKALION  and  PYRRHA.] 
PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Hail,  Caesar's  heiress ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


MEDUSA. 

Who  art  thou  ?     And  why 
Such  greeting  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  declare  thee  as  thou  art. 
The  phantom  purple  underneath  thy  stole 
We  see,  who  nursed  thy  young  humility 
That  now  is  pride,  intrusted  thee  with  strength 
To  be  the  strength  of  men,  and  made  thee  free, 
That  each  soul's  freedom  find  its  root  in  thine! 
How  much  of  duty  in  thy  power  survives  ? 

MEDUSA. 

I  meet  the  needs  and  the  desires  of  men. 
What  they  expect,  I  give  ;  the  seed  whereof, 
Sown  ignorantly  on  all  the  fields  of  the  Past 
By  dead  Religions,   I  have  reaped  for  them. 
The  passion  and  delight  of  sacrifice  ; 
The  comfort  out  of  self-abasement  won  ; 
The  lofty  symbols,  flattering   lower  sense 
Until  the  thing  it  touches  seems  divine  ; 
The  sweet  continuance  of  miracle 
That  Faith  implores,  to  feel  its  Lord  renewed  ; 
The  sanctioned  ear,  where  Guilt  may  find  release 
And  surety  of  pardon,  —  these  I  give. 


62  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

These  only?     Treadest  thou  thy  children  down, 

Lest  they  should  grow  beyond  thee  ?     Hast  thou  peace 

For  Man's  illimitable  questions  and  desires? 

MEDUSA. 

Yea!     Through  obedience,  peace  for  each  and  all. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Art    thou,  then,  more  than  man?     Through  him  thou 
art. 

MEDUSA. 

Thy  speech  offends:  the  race-begotten  child 
Is  its  own  father's  lord. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Prove  lordship,  then  !  - 

Display  the  rights  bestowed,  to  balance  them 
Thou  hast  usurped  !     Man's  reverence  is  thine  : 
Where  bides  thy  reverence  for  Man  ?     The  Mind 
That,  seated  in  the  universe  of  things, 
Needs  all  its  heritage,  —  the  haughty  doubt, 
Twin-born  with  knowledge  and  of  equal  right, 
Hast  thou  made  free  ? 

MEDUSA. 

I  make  not  error  free. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  63 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Art  thou,  alone,  establisher  of  truth  ?  — 
Not  also  Man  who  made  thee,  the  high  God 
Whose  will  permits  thee  ? 

PYRRHA. 

* 

Tell  me  what  keen  charm 
Thou  usest,  that  my  daughters  turn  to  thee  ? 

MEDUSA. 
Knowest  thou  thyself  and  askest  ? 

PYRRHA. 

Yea,  I  know 

The  strength  and  weakness  of  an  instinct  foiled. 
Sexless  thyself,  the  secret  of  the  sex 
Is  lightly  caught  by  thee  ;  yet,  be  thou  skilled 
To  weave  ecstatic  visions  from  hot  blood, 
And  call  heaven  down  to  fill  Love's  emptiness, 
There  dwells  a  soul  in  woman  past  thy  reach, 
A  need  that  spurns  thy  tinkling  toys,  a  claim 
Beyond  thy  lullabies  of  sense  and  sound, 
And  sweet  division  of  Divinity 
'Twixt  us  and  Man  ! 

MEDUSA. 

Thine  ?  —  or  felt  by  all  ? 


64  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

A  myriad  speak,  though  single  be  the  voice  ! 

We  know  thee,  Gorgon  !     Though  the  tonsured  head 

Keep  down  thy  sprouting  snakes,  the  triple  crown 

Hide  their  renewal,  yet  thy  stony  glance 

Betrays  the  ancient  beauty,  and  its  dread  ! 

Why  hast  thou  turned  from  that  defenceless  love 

Which  equalized  all  lives  of  men,  to  use 

The  mystery  of  terror  ?     Why  made  stone 

The  souls  that  moved  before  thee,  save  in  chains  ? 

Many  thy  keys  of  power,  for  thou  hast  learned 

To  govern  weakness  :  hast  thou  then  forgot 

That  force  and  freedom  live  ? 

MEDUSA. 

Perchance  in  dreams. 

PRINCE  DEUKALION  (advancing). 

Before  thee,  here,  I  stand  !     One  Power  decrees 
Thy  life  and  mine  :  subdue  me  if  thou  canst ! 
My  children  made  thee,  and  shall  overthrow ! 
Take  strength  from  all  the  Past,  on  dreams  presumed 
Build  empire,  and  exalt  thyself,  —  /  am, 

I  was,  I  shall  be ! 

PYRRHA. 

I  no  less! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

MEDUSA  (sinking  down  upon  her  throne). 

Away ! 

CHORUS  (without}. 

As  a  bed  where  the  weary  sleep, 
As  a  chest  where  our  gems  we  keep 
Art  thou,  our  Mother! 

ANTI-CHORUS. 

Spare  us!  we  stand  despoiled 
Of  the  goods  for  which  we  toiled : 
Thine  is  the  hand  that  foiled; 
There  is  none  other. 

CHORUS. 

We  bow,  and  our  joys  endure ; 
Assent,  and  the  Future  is  sure ; 
Thy  rule  is  highest. 

ANTI-CHORUS. 

We  ask,  as  thy  gifts  decrease, 
Knowledge  that  brings  us  peace, 
Freedom,  the  soul's  release, — 
But  thou  deniest! 

CHORUS. 

Power  and  Mystery  thine, 
5 


66  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Surely  art  thou  divine, 
To  reign  forever! 

ANTI-CHORUS. 

Power,  the  child  of  Will, 
Dares  and  defies  thee  still 
Even  God  shall  not  kill 
Man's  endeavor  ! 


SCENE  in. 

[Night.  An  open  grassy  glade,  between  groves  of  ancient  oak  and  ilex  trees, 
in  a  deep  mountain  valley.  The  full  orb  of  the  moon  hanging  low  in 
the  west.'] 

PYRRHA    (sola). 

In   this  pure  shadow  every  rocky  scar 

Is  healed :  there  is  no  lightest  lisp  of  leaf : 

The  waters,  only,  never  lose  their  song, 

But  in  their  swift,  dissolving  syllables 

Some  soft  response  to  mine  immortal  hope 

Endeavors  for  a  voice.     Most,  unto  me, 

The  time  is  holy :  wherefore  not  to  him  ? 

Not  weariness  of  baffled  toil  alone, 

Nor  late  revenges  of  subjected  sense, 

Dare  shape  his  dreams.     Our  primal  task  the  same, 

Our  purpose  one,  our  equal  bliss  through  each 

Ordained,  at  need  I  summon  him  to  me : 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  67 

From  toil,  uniting  while  it  seems  to  part ; 

From  visions  of  thyself,  renewed 
To  quicken  men's  discouraged  fortitude  ; 
By  the  twin  right  of  one  inseparate  heart, 

Which  speaking,  other  voice  is  dumb,  - 

I  bid  thee  come ! 
If  thee  I  most  may  comfort,  or  me  thou, 

What  need  to   question  now  ? 

We  take,  even  as  we  give, 
Nor,  save  in  our  unreckoned  bounties,  live ! 
Deukalion-Pyrrha,  all  myself  in  thee 
Compels  thee  unto  me  i 

[A  pause.     PRINCE  DEUKALION  appears.] 

One  moment,  ere  thou  speakest,  let  me  gaze ! 
Though  some  bright  rosier  flush  of  waxing  life 
Forsake  thy  features,  marbled  by  the  moon, 
Thine  eyes  remain,  and  out  of  shadow  send 
A  happy  splendor :  am   I  fair  to  thee  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Fair  and  so  near !     Ah,  Love,  couldst  thou  be  mine. 
Save  first  myself  were  mine  ! 

PYRRHA. 

Then  I  were  less 

Than  thou  believest ;  but  my  heart  forgives 
The  over-fondness  of  complete  desire. 


68  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

I  venture  further,  dream  diviner  end  : 

Each  lost  in  each,  one  body  as  one  soul ; 

Endless  renewals  of  surprise  and  bliss  ; 

A  twofold  touch  of  life,  all  knowledge  grown 

A  double  power  through  interchanging  sense, 

As  light  should  warm  at  will,  and  heat  illume  ; 

Two  mingling  tones  to  every  passion's  voice  ; 

Twin-rays  from  eyes,  as  shines  from  sky  and  stream 

The  single  star  —  but  that  were  Deity! 

We  will  not  look  beyond  the  task  designed. 

Guide  thou  thy  sons  as   I    my  daughters  ;  teach 

Respondent  honor  to  heroic  blood 

That  wastes  itself  in  self-forgetting  toil ; 

Give  rank  and  right,  and  exercise  of  rule  ; 

With  lighter  weapons  of  one  temper  arm 

The  softer  strength,  and  in  one  squadron  set, 

To  fight  the  world's  long  battle  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Force  is  kind, 
That  once  oppressed,  and  honors  fade  unworn. 

PYRRHA. 

A  favor  on  a  helm,  —  a  tourney's  crown  ! 
Cross-hilted  swords,  in  dying  unction  held, 
Crimsoning  scarf  or  glove !     In    lordly  bower, 
Or  under  oriel,  lute  and  lay  espoused 
In  adoration  that  purveys  to  sense, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  69 

While  lowly  virtue  is  a  jest  of  fools  ! 

What  she  bestows,  the  Head  whom  all  obey, 

Degrades  while  it  exalts,  a  sanctity 

Conferred  on  bondage !     Why,  methinks,  the  world 

Is  but  a  monstrous  wizard,  weaving  spells, 

And  chanting,  under  breath,  some  siren-song, 

That  none  escape! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Pyrrha,   I  read  thy  mind  ; 
But  till  the  snakes  upon   Medusa's  head 
Shall  turn  to  tresses,  and  be  loosed    to  dry 
Man's  bruised  feet,  or  Man  himself  shall  rise 
And  crush  them  under  his  avenging  heel, 
We  must  endure  to  wait. 

PYRRHA. 

How  long  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Not  long! 

There  are  who  know  me,  whose  allegiance  went 
In  flame  aloft,  to  fall  in  thunder  back. 
The  winds  of  earth  are  wafting  to  and  fro 
The  ashes  of  great  lives,  that  seem,  to  Her, 
The  Gorgon,  dust;  yet  are  unquenchable, 
Immortal  fiery  seeds  of  voice  and  act, 
Her  hate  increases  when  it  would  destroy. 


PRINCE   DEUKALION. 


So  Arnold  lives,  and  Abelard :  so  he, 
The  youth  I  chose,  shall  with  consuming  song 
Burn  his  broad  way  through  ages !     Thou  and  I 
Before  one  onset  walk;  and  thou  shalt  change 
The  old  dependence  into  loftier  aid. 

PYRRHA. 

Exact  one  space,  where  we  may  stand    alone, 
And  unassailed ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Pyrrha !  when  proudest  thou, 
Dearest  and  most  desired  !     Full-limbed  and  fair, 
Such  perfect  beauty  in  thy  lifted  head 
It  cannot  be  defiant,  such  clear  truth 
In  thy  large  eyes,  such  glory  as  a  mist 
Around  thee  — 

[Seizing  her  hands. 

Let  it  be  a  dream  —  no  more! 
Thy  hands,  a  dream,  and,  ere  the  vision  end, 
Once  let  me  know  the  lips  that  shall  be  mine! 

[  Thunder.     The  Shadow  of  PROMETHEUS  rises.~\ 
PROMETHEUS. 

Not  yet! 

Slow-paced  is  Fate  : 
All  crowns  come  late. 
Couldst  thou  forget  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Since  my  proud  task  began, 
Nor  more  nor  less  than  Man 
Am  I,  or  may  become. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Haste  is  not  speed, 
And  Passion  mars  the  deed; 
And  Love's  too-early  paean  soon  is  dumb. 

PYRRHA. 

But  in  thy  scheme  lie  burning 

Keen  sparks  of  yearning,  - 

The  hope  that  dies  not, 

The  voice  that  lies  not, 
The  dream,  more  bright  at  each  returning! 

Within  thy  reed  of  stolen  fire 

Came  down  the  Gods'  desire, 
Not  their  chill  calm  of  changeless  being. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Whence  they,  foreseeing 

Far  overthrow, 

Through  what  of  them  in  you  was  planted, 
Made  me  your  Expiator! 


72  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

The  One  we  know, 
God,  Father  and  Creator, 
Himself  to  Man  his  nature  granted  ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

He  standeth  sure. 
A  spark  of  Him  in  all, — 
The  form  of  faith  that  dies, 
The  tenets  that  surprise,  - 
Though  falling  as  ye  fall, 
He  rises  as  ye  rise  : 

He  will  endure ! 

\The  moon  sets  :  a  faint  light  in  the  eastern  skv. 
PYRRHA. 

Father,  thou  readest  in  my  heart 
What  I  implore,  ere  thou  depart ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Though  a  sudden  darkness  fills 
All  the  hollows  of  these  hills, 
White  and  large,  against  the  gray, 
Sparkles   Phosphor's  chilly  ray; 
And  the  mountain-brows  are  wan 
In  the  weakness  of  the  dawn. 
But  the  little  streak  that  lies 


PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LION. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  skies, 
As  the  remnant-wine  in  cup, 
Fast  shall  fill  and  mantle  up, 
And,  where  yellow  coldly  grows, 
Burn  to  gold  and  flush  to  rose. 
Look,  and  hearken,  if  there  be 
Message  in  the  morn  for  thee  ! 

[PROMETHEUS  disappears. 
PYRRHA. 

Wait,  my  Deukalion !  hand  in   hand, 
With  quiet  pulses,  beating  bliss  in  each, 
And  the  immortal  faith  that  asks  no  speech, 

Again  beside  me  stand ! 

Even  now  the  glowing  tide 
Throws  its  first  foam  of  fiery  cloud,  and  wide 

The  heads  of  mountain-peaks 
Feel  day's  fresh  blood  upon  their  pallid  cheeks: 
Already  sings  aloft  the  awakened  lark: 

Whether  she  come  or  fail,  the  Hour 

Brings  consolation  and  swift  power, 
And  I  am  strangely  happy,  —  Hark!     Oh,  hark! 

EOS  (unseen). 

Mother  of  them  to  be, 
Who  wast  first  designed  in  the  Past 
To  be  fulfilled  at  the  last, 

Why  calleth  thy  soul  to  me? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

For  the  beauty  my  daughters  wear 
Is  made  to  itself  a  snare! 

EOS. 

Beauty  alike  shall  soften  and  save, 

Till  Force  shall  feel, 

As  the  galley's  keel 
Is  lifted  and  sped  by  the  lovely  wave  ! 
Under  the  law  that  holds  me  afar, 
And  Fate's  immutable  bar, 
By  the  secret  of  something  all  divine, 
The  heart  in  my  bosom  answers  thine ! 

PYRRHA. 

Not  yet  uncurtain  thine  eyes  ! 
I  ask  no  more. 

EOS. 

The  slow  swift  ages  wait  in  the  skies; 
The  ghosts  are  eager  on    Heaven's  floor. 
What  Darkness  sowed  the  Light  shall  reap, 

And  Evil  that  reviled, 
Impregnate  in  her  drunken  sleep, 

Shall  bear  a  purer  child! 

[A  pause. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 
PYRRHA. 

The  roses  fade,  the  music  melts  away. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

It   is  another  day ! 


SCENE  IV. 

[The  Roman  Capitol.  MEDUSA,  throned  on  a  platform,  in  front  of  an  ancient 
church,  in  the  walls  of  which  are  seen  columns  of  a  Doric  temple.  An 
immense  multitude  gathered  together.} 

MEDUSA. 

Who  all  possesses,  dares  be  generous  ; 

And  here,  where  fell  the  guardian  god  of  Rome, 

Touched  by  a  babe's  soft  hand,  —  where   Caesar's  crown, 

Descending,  stopped  when  Tibur's  Sibyl  spake, 

Foreseeing  mine,  —  shall  go  indulgence  forth  ! 

No  bounty  equals  that  which  Power  bestows 

That  might  withhold:  the  senses  must  not  starve, 

Lest  the  soul  clamor.     Out  of  what  I  hoard, 

Prepared  for  me,  the  harvest  of  the  Past, 

Some  ears  may  well  be  scattered. 

Who  demands  ? 


76  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

[Two  step  forth:  the  POET,  in  a  red  mantle,  his  head  crowned  with  laurel; 
the  PAINTER,  bearing  tablet  and  pencils.'} 

THE    POET. 

Faithful  to  all  thou  seemest,   I  have  sung; 

Hate  is  my  portion,  yet  I  sing  no  less. 

Love  for  Love's  sake  instructed  first  my  tongue, 

That  Truth  so  speak,  and  Justice  so  redress. 

I  am   a  voice,  and  cannot  more  be  still 

Than  some  high  tree  that  takes  the  whirlwind's  stress 

Upon  the  summit  of  a  lonely  hill. 

Be  thou  a  wooing  breeze,  my  song  is  fair  ; 

Be  thou  a  storm,  it  pierces  far  and  shrill, 

And  grows  the  spirit  of  the  starless  air  : 

Such  voices  were,  and  such  must  ever  be, 

Omnipotent  as  love,  unforced  as  prayer, 

And  poured  round  Life  as  round  its  isles  the  sea! 

THE    PAINTER. 

Faithful  to  all  thou  seemest,   I  have  made 

Thy  glories  visible,  in  beauty,  grace, 

Pain,  death,  and  triumph!     I  have  set  thy  saints, 

In  tints  exalting  life  above  itself, 

And  aureoled  faces  caught  from  ecstasy, 

For  endless  worship.     Vassal  unto  thee 

Therein,  the  separate  service  now  outruns 

My  vassalage  ;  for  beauteous  Art  compels 

Her  Beauty's  freedom  ! 


PRINCE   DEUKALION.  77 

MEDUSA  (aside). 

Freedom  ?  still  the  moon 
These  children  cry  for. 

Yet  for  thee  there  pleads 

No  crownless   Muse,  of  them  that  haunt  the  ways 
Of  men,  and  think  they  live :  thine  never  lived  ! 
But  of  the  others  whoso    linger  still, 
Long  out  of  service,  living  on  men's  alms, 
Decoying  pity  through  their  old  respect 
And  fallen  honor,  —  let  them  now  appear ! 

[Enter  THE  MUSES.] 

So  much  of  dignity  in  ruin  lives  ? 

Save  that  some  faces  smile,  and  some  are  calm 

With  certainty  of  ancient  place  renewed, 

Ye  were  defiant:  but  your  pride  is  fair! 

It  suits  me  well  to  find  dependent  now 

Such  haught  existences :  as  I  grant  leave, 

Ye  may  endure :  in  them  who  served  the  old, 

The  newer  faith  rewards  like  loyalty. 

First  of  the  triple  triads  those  advance, 

Who  nearest,  lightest-natured,  cheerfullest, 

Were  loved  of  men,  and  made  the  moment  speed ! 

EUTERPE,    THALIA    AND    TERPSICHORE. 

In  the  woods  and  highlands 

We  linger  near; 
By  the  shores  and  islands, 

When  skies  are  clear. 


78  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Delight  of  existence, 

In  the  feet  that  fly, 
Calls  from  the  distance 

Our  glad  reply ; 
But  the  joys  are  sweeter 

That  to  all  belong, 
When  the  foot  gives  the  metre, 

The  heart  the  song ! 
No  more  you  banish 

Than  a  cloud  the  sun  : 
We  only  vanish 

To  be  re-won ! 

MEDUSA. 

Good  service  offers  !  -  -  't  is  the  must  of  youth, 
The  hum,  and  surge,  and  sparkle  of  fresh  blood, 
That  must  have  sway:  be  these  my  vintagers, 
So  mine  the  later  wine!     Yea,  let  the  vats 
Even  over-foam,  't  is  sign  of  potent  fire 
Stored  in  the  vessels  when  my  seal  is  set, 
And  acrid  strength  of  age.     Without  excess 
Were  less  restraint :  here  may  indulgence  lie ! 
Go,  altarless  yet  worshipped,  —  ye  are  free ! 

MELPOMENE,    POLYHYMNIA    AND    ERATO. 

When  Music  fails,  and  Joy  is  dumb 
To  men's  exalted  need,  we  come. 
Our  swords  of  sharper  beauty  cleave 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  spells  of  senses  that  deceive, 
And  out  of  yearning,  pain  and  power, 
We  call,  and  rule,  one  glorious  hour! 
Time  cannot  mar  nor  Conquest  wrong 
The  swift,  majestic  march  of  Song, 
Or  Faith,  in  man's  august  desire, 
Quench  the  least  atom  of  her  fire. 
The  Thought  that  strays,  afar,  alone, 
We  guide  to  speech  and  charm  to  tone 
The  breathless  Passions  pause,  to  see 
Their  rage  resolved  to  harmony; 
The  terror  of  their  language  wooed 
To  music,  and  to  law  subdued  ; 
Till  all  things  dread,  fair,  fugitive, 
Touched  by  eternal  Beauty,  live! 


MEDUSA. 
These  are  suspect  :  whom  shall  they  rule  —  or  serve  ? 

[A  patise. 
THE    POET. 

Me,  if  none  other!     Yonder  multitude 

Scarce  knoweth  what  it  loves,  yet  loves  no  less,  — 

Enjoys,  forgets,  discards  and  craves  again, 

Breathing  high  thoughts  unconsciously  as  air  : 

Without  them,  stifled  !     Those  are  welcome  now, 

Who  bring  the  sportive  liberty  of  life 

To  the  sad  world's  late  holiday;  but  these, 


80  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Seldom  as  odors  on  the  arid  hills, 
Still  keep  their  fond  surprises ! 

MEDUSA. 

Under  guard, 

Then,  let  the  Three  go  forth!     They  reach  too  high. 
Who  plucks  on  tip-toe  at  the   dangling  grape 
Pulls  down  the  vine :  what 's  Passion  but  revolt  ? 
What,  save  the  music  of  illicit  minds, 
Is  Poetry?     Yet  purposed  deeds  may  sleep, 
Lulled  by  the  measure  of  their  own  wild  dreams. 
The  accumulate  store,  saved  from  the  wrecks  of  Time, 
Frayed  raiment,  spangled  thick  with  Pagan  gems, 
Is  hoarded  in  my  vaults  ;  but  at  my  will 
Be  spent  the  treasure  !  —  easy  luxury 
To  brains  that  else  might  coin,  or  claim,  or  steal. 
These  Three,  of  men  surmised  or  coveted, 
May  walk  the  world  henceforth ;  but,  under  guard ! 

CALLIOPE    AND    CLIO. 

Daughters,  whom  Zeus  and  she, 
Wide-browed  Mnemosyne, 
Gave  to  the  sons  of  earth, 
In  wisdom,  might  and  mirth 
Divinely  so  to  lead 
That  word  is  wed  with  deed ; 
And  action,  rhythmic  grown, 
Stands  as  in  sculptured  stone  ; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  g 

And  noble  speech  commands 
Service  of  swords  and  hands; 
We  wait,  but  do  not  ask 
Continuance  of  our  task! 

MEDUSA. 

Thou,  of  the  keen,  persuasive,  perfect  voice, 

Thee  I  require  !  —  despite  the  haughty  flash 

Of  thine  unshrinking  eyes,   I  know  the  spell 

That  rules  thee  :  wait,   I  '11  feed  thy  tongue  with  fire ! 

Thou,  too,  whose  stylus  wanders  restlessly 

Across  the  empty  tablets,  at  my  feet 

Sit  down,  and  write  me  legends!     I  have  store: 

Pain,  penitence,  and  power  and  miracle, 

Glory,  disaster,  blessing, — by  one  soul 

Informed,  linking  the  ages  in  one  scheme 

Grander  than  all  thy  fables! 

Who  art  tkou, 

The  last,  who  speakest  not  ?     Thine  eyes  are  set 
Like  one  who  sees  not,  thine  attentive  ear 
Hearkens  to  something  far  away.     Most  fair 
Wert  thou,  could  Beauty,  careless  of  delight, 
Wear  Wisdom's  mask.  —  What  Lamia  lingers  here? 

[Aside* 

No  supplication,  nay,  but  pity  shines 

From  those  firm  eyes  :   I  cannot  look  them  down  ! 

Is  it  the  coldness  of  the  serpent  blood 


g2  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

So  chills  me?     Serpent?  — one  of  us  must  writhe 
When  the  end  comes;  but  ages  lie  between. 

URANIA. 

The  clear  lamp,  colorless, 

Of  high  Truth   I  possess. 

Hope,  Will  and  Faith  may  spurn, 

WThile  fresh  their  torches  burn, 

What,  kindling  now  afar, 

Seems  but  a  dying  star: 

Yet,  wheeling  as  it  must, 

This  little  orb  of  dust 

Not  more  the  Law  divine 

Establishes,  than  mine. 

Shall  Faith  permit  me?     Nay, 

Thine  standeth  in  my  way! 

The  strong,  unshaken  mind 

May  shun  me,  but  must  find; 

Devotion,  bowed  to  thee, 

Is  upward  blown  to  me, 

Who  over  Change  and  Time 

Stand  single,  strong,  sublime! 

MEDUSA  (rising  suddenly). 

Seize  the  blasphemer  !  What !  —  from  air  she  came, 
To  air  returns  ?     Or  doth  some  shadow  still 
Glide  past  yon  hoary  columns  ?  —  She  is  gone  ! 
Set  double  guards  around  our  borders  !     Bar 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  g 

With  fire  and  steel  her  entrance  !      Say,  shall  we 
Hold  parley  with  such  immemorial  hate, 
Or,  being  Life  to  men,  permit  this  Death 
Her  darts  to  scatter? 

Take,  new-wrought  for  you, 
My  children,  chosen  of  the  seed  of  Earth, 
The  timbrels  and  the  flutes  of  joy;  the  pomp 
Of  color,  music,  marble,  gems  and  gold  ; 
The  tender  pardon  of  the  whispered  sin; 
The  symbols,  fitting  to  the  weary  mind 
An  easy  load,  so  keeping  truth  alive 
In  dusky  mysteries  ;  and,  shadowing  God's, 
The  universal  watchfulness  of    Power ! 

\Exit  MEDUSA  :  the  multitude  retires. 

THE     POET. 

(Solus,  gazing  down  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Forum.) 

Urania  !  —  not  thy  face  that  earliest  wooed  me, 

And  from  these  ancient  ashes  called  the  fire  ! 

Thy  sister,  even  in  marble  sleep,  subdued  me 

Unto  free  Song's  untamable  desire  ; 

And  he,  in  whom  I  feel  myself  united 

To  deed  and  word  and  vision  that  inspire,  - 

Life's  homeless   Prince,  alone  in  dreams    invited,  - 

Is  of  thy  race,  and  waits  afar  for  thee. 

What  now  thou  art,  Spirit  so  spurned  and  slighted, 

I  know  not,  nor  can  guess  what  thou  shalt  be  : 

But  through  the  light  of  Day  thine  eyes  are  burning, 

Thy  feet  are  on  the  mountains  and  the  sea ; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


The  holy  planets,  going  and  returning, 
Keep  thy  clear  paths  untangled  in  the  sky: 
Thy  wisdom  shall  replace  our  hoodwinked  yearning, 
Thy  living  laws  the  mysteries  that  die! 


SCENE  V. 

\_A  pass  among  the  High  Alps.~] 
EPIMETHEUS    (solus). 

Bright  Earth !    The  echo  of  the  fateful  words^: 
"  Rise,  Brother !  "  scarce  in  twilight  Hades  dies, 
And  I  behold  thee  !    Bath  of  dazzling  Day, 
Take  these  spent  limbs,  revive  .the  old  Titan  blood, 
Sharp  wine  of  mountain-ether!    Are  yon  snows 
Our  Caucasus  ?  —  yon  melting  distances 
The  meads  of  Phasis,  or,   on  Morning's  side, 
The  Caspian  and  the  far  Chorasmian  plain? 
Here,  now,  the  hoary,  storm-tormented  peaks 
Stand  silent :  muffled  thunders  from  below 
Make  brief  disturbance  :   slopes  of  tender  turf, 
Untrampled  by  the  steer,  and  flowers  uncropped, 
Smile  a  faint  summer  down  the   hollow  dells, 
And  dark  with  lifeless  water  lies  the  lake. 
There  wheels  a  vulture,  giving  to  the  blue 
The  shade  or  sparkle  of   his  slanted  wings, 
But  seeking  other  quarry:  not  for  me 
Is  torture,  save  the  pang  of  growing  sight, 


PRINCE  DEUK ALTON. 

And  slow  remembrance  of  the  things  that  were. 
The  Past,  that  'mid  her  ruins  lay  a-swooned, 
In  me  recovers  :  pulse  by  pulse  must  I 
Recall  my  life,  and  word  by  word  my  speech, 
And  age  by  age  my  knowledge  ! 

\_Enter  URANIA.] 

Also  thou, 

Whom,  eminent  in   Babylon,   I  saw, — 
Or  wise  in  secrets  of  the  Memphian  stars, 
Or  hermitess  on  Samos,  royal  guest 
In  Academe,  —  endurest  ? 

URANIA. 

I  endure. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Where  wast  thou  ? 

URANIA. 

Waiting  in  the  dust  of  earth 
And  the  eternal  splendor  of  the  stars. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Has  thy  day  dawned  ? 

URANIA. 

Yea,  ever  is  at  dawn, 
So  men  but  lift  their  eyes  ! 


86  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


EPIMETHEUS. 

Where  goest  thou  ? 

URANIA. 

To  them  that  seek  me. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Goddess,  I  return 

To  draw  the  forfeit  forces  of  my  youth  ' 
From  dull,  forgetful  age :  be  thou  my  help  ! 

URANIA. 

Learn  what  to  ask,   I  give  :  not  mine  to  guess 
The  need  of  others.     Epimetheus,  thou, 
A  yearning  shadow,  must  create  thyself 
And  thine  equality  of  final  power. 
Not  yet  thou  knowest  me  ;  but,  as  I  go, 
Speak,  soft,  unsilenced  Spirit  of  the  Wind, 
Speak,  kindred  Spirits  of  the  Snow  and  Stream, 
Declare  my  being  ! 

{She  descends  the  northern  side  of  the  pass. 
EPIMETHEUS. 

Spirits,  I  listen  :  speak  ! 

SPIRIT     OF    THE    WIND. 

From  the  parched  Numidian  waste, 
From  the  hills  of  hot  Fezzan, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  87 

I  sprang  with  a  boundless  haste 

That  only  the  stars  outran; 
Over  mountain  and   Midland  Sea 

That  strove  to  tire  or  tame,- 
Over  Etna  and  Stromboli 

That  pierced  me  with  smoke  and   flame; 
Till   I  laid,  in  the  first   desire 

That  bended  my  pinions  low, 
The  cheek  of  the  sylph  of  fire 

On  the  breast  of  the  gnome  of  snow! 
For  the  powers  of  ruin,  that  meet 

In  the  vaults  of  space,  must  die 
When  the  spirit  that    stays  my  feet 

Is  lord  of  the  tender  sky! 
I  come,  to  wither  and  slay; 

I  pause,  to  quicken  and  spare; 
And  the  fate  of  the  world  I  weigh 

In  the  trembling  balance  of  air! 

SPIRIT    OF    THE    SNOW. 

Homeless  atoms,  born   in  the  sky, 
Cling  to  the  ledges  bleak  and  high, 
Fill  the  crevice  and  hide  the  scar, 
And  give  the  sunrise  a  rosy  star  ! 
Gather  and  grow,  till  a  shield  is  won 
To  blunt  the  spear  of  the  angry  sun  ; 
Till  from  the  heart  of  my  chill  repose 
Power  awakens  and  purpose  grows,- 


88  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Out  of  my  torpor  the  glacier  goes  ! 
Silent,  certain,  it  crouches  and  crawls 
Down  the  gorges  in  frozen  falls, 
And  crystal  turrets  of  azure  walls, 
Tearing  the  granite  from  crest  and  dome, 
Hurling  the  torrent  forth  in  foam  ! 
Shepherding  here  my  downy  flock, 
There   I  shatter  the  ribs  of  rock; 
Stayed  by  a  hand  and  slain  by  a  breath, 
There   I  am  terror,  and  doom,  and  death ! 

SPIRIT    OF    THE    STREAM. 

Over  the  mosses  and  grasses 

The  white  cloud  passes, 
Silent  and  soft  as  a  dream  ; 
And  the  earth,  in  her  shy  embraces, 

Conceals  the  traces 
Of  the  secret  birth  of  the  Stream  : 
Till  my  threads  are  braided  and  woven, 

And  speed  through  the  cloven 
Channels,  and  gather,  and  sink, 
And  wind,  and  sparkle,  and  dally, 

With  song  in  the  valley, 
And  shout  from  the  terrible  brink! 
Then  the  whirl  of  the  wind  divides  me, 

And  the  rainbow  hides  me, 
As   I  midway  scatter  in  air; 
And  I  bathe  with  endless  showers 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  feet  of  the  flowers, 
And  the  locks  of  the  forest's  hair: 
Till  proudly,  with  waters  wedded, 

My  strength  is  bedded 
By  meadow,  and  slope,  and  lea; 
And  the  lands  at  last  deliver 

Their  tribute  river 
To  the  universal  Sea! 

THE    THREE    SPIRITS    (as  Echoes). 

Thou,  to  power  and  empire  born, 
Stay  one  arrow  of  the   Morn; 
Pluck  one  feather  from  the  wing 
Of  the  wild  Wind's  wandering; 
Breathe  to  air  the  flakes  that  blow 
From  the  chambers  of  the  Snow; 
Hold  one  speck  of  drifting  Force 
From  the  measures  of  its  course; 
Then  of  these  hast  thou  the  chain 
Binding  Man's  immortal  brain ! 

\_Enter  PRINCE   DEUKALION  and  PYRRHA.] 
PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

What  faint,  clear  music  of  the  elements 

Makes  all  these  mountains  rhythmic,  and  this  air? 

Thou  hearest,    Pyrrha  ? 


90  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

Not  the  same  that  fell 
From  fair  Ionian  stars,  and  found  afar 
Reverberant  echoes  on  the  mounts  of  Song; 
But  Earth  awakens!     Hope  I  breathe,  and  power, 
Losing  my  burden  of  remembered  ill. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

New  realms,  yet  not  unknown,  invite  us.     See, 
How,  yonder,  where  the  piny  gorges  fall 
Northward,  it  spreads !  —  a  land  of  tempered  air, 
Where  Beauty's  enemy,  rough   Toil,  abides, 
And  all  the  joyous  Muses  bind  their  brows 
With  straightening  fillets :  never  Daphne  shakes 
Her  glossy  head,  or  Pallas'  hoary  tree 
Makes  moonlight  on  the  hills.     But  Druid  oaks, 
Univied,  stretch  their  stubborn  arms  abroad, 
The  firs  bend  black  beneath  their  weight  of  snow, 
The  gray  walls  gloom,  fire  mocks  the  absent  sun, 
And  Life,  no  more  a  lightsome  gift  of  Earth, 
Defends  itself  by  battle  :  voices  there 
Call  thee  and  me. 

PYRRHA. 

So  but  my  daughters  call, 
They  shall  behold  me!     Under  placid  brows 
Of  Nymph  or  Goddess,  and  the  chaste  cold  breasts, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  Q 

And  beating  through  the  snow  of  perfect  limbs, 

Is  Woman  !     Beauty's  soft  inheritress, 

Let  her  uplift  her  downcast  lids,  and  see 

Power  abnegated,  dignity  unworn, 

And  equal  freedom  sheltering  equal  love. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

There  lies  Medusa's  secret :  with  such  bait 
Long  hath  she  fished;   but  thou  shalt  dis-immure 
Her  slaves,  and  give  them  their  abolished  sex! 

[Perceiving  EPIMETHEUS. 

Here  were  a  face  —  save  that  the  kindled  eye, 
And  April  bourgeoning  of  sunny  locks 
Around  the  seamless  forehead,  might  deceive  - 
I  looked  upon  in   Hades:  is  it  thou? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Am  I  so  young,  then?     What  Prometheus  mused 
I  know  not  yet.     With  sight  indrawn  he  sat, 
And  seemed  to  listen,  while  our  starless  air 
One  weary  hour  hung  dead,  —  then  hoarsely  spake: 
"  Rise,   Brother ! "  and  the  thin,  gray,  crowding  ghosts 
Whirled  on  and  would  have  risen;  but  I  was  here! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

What  doest  thou  ? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

I  listen. 


92  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Unto  whom? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

The  Wind,  the  Snow,  the  Stream.     The  mighty  Muse 
Bearing  an  orb,  the  star  upon  her  brow, 
Commanded  speech  of  them,  and  passed  beyond 
To  Thrace  or  Scythia. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

She  ?  —  and  thou  ?  —  Again, 
O   Pyrrha,  let  our  severed  hands  unite! 
Not  mine  the  eternal  secret  of  the  Gods 
To  fathom,  yet  their  purpose  in  my  blood 
Beats  prophecy. 

Go,  Epimetheus,  sunward, 
And  seek  thy  childhood  in  the  dust  of  ages! 
Burrow  in  buried  fanes:  wash  clean  the  altars, 
And  spell  forgotten  words  on  mouldering  marble. 
Perchance  thy  limbs  shall  fail,  thy  lids  be  weary, 
And  thou  shalt  sleep;  fear  not,   I  will  awaken! 
Thy  brother's  words  fulfil :  "  Take  one  new  comfort, 
Still  Epimetheus  lives!"  and  now  the  morning 
Shall  not  withhold  the  unseen  eyes  of  Eos ! 

\Exit    EPIMETHEUS. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  93 

PYRRHA  (as    they  descend  the  pass]. 
Arching  aisles  of  the  pine,  receive  us  ; 

Dells  of  alder  and  willow,  be  fair ! 
Something  of  ancient  beauty  leave  us, — 

Gift  for  promise,  and  deed  for  prayer! 

ECHOES. 

In  the  shadows  of  the  pine 
Beauty  waiteth,  still  divine : 
She  is  thine! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Will  of  manhood  and  blood  of  valor, 
Leap  as  of  old  to  the  day  at  hand: 

Free  of  doubt  and  of  craven  pallor, 
Rise  and  ransom  the  captive  land! 

ECHOES. 

In  the  forge  and  in  the  mine 

Weapons  for  the  battle  shine: 

They  are  thine ! 

[Exeunt 


ACT    III. 

SCENE   I. 

[A  i>alley  among  hills  covered  with  forests  of  oak  and  beech.  Below,  in  the  dis 
tance,  a  richly  cultivated  plain,  a  city  with  Gothic  towers,  and  a  broad 
river,  dotted  with  the  sails  of  vessels.^ 

POET    (passing). 

EARTH,  thou  art  lovely  as  any  star, 
With  rest  so  near,  desire  so  far  ! 
Peace  from  the  tree-tops  on  the  hill 
Sinks,  and  the  blissful  fields  are  still  ; 
While  tender  longing,  pure  of  pain, 
Dwells  in  the  blue  of  yonder  plain; 
And  all  things  Fancy,  faring  free, 
May  clasp  or  covet,  come  from  thee! 
Something  of  mine  is  everywhere, 
Trodden  as  earth  or  breathed  as  air; 
Giving,  with  magic  sure  and  warm, 
Voice  to  silence  and  soul  to  form, 
Calm  to  passion  and  speed  to  rest, 
Borrowed  or  lent  of  mine  own  breast 
By  that  swift  spirit  that  mocks  the  eye, 
As  over  thee  the  unfeatured  sky, 
Heaving  its  blue  tides,  endlessly, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  9 

To  planets  that  fail  to  lift  the  sea! 

I  am  thy  subject,  yet  thy  king: 

Give  me  thy  speech,  and  let  me  sing! 

[Exit. 

G&A. 

Step  to  the  music  of  the  song  I  gave, 

My  Poet,  homeward!     Lovers,  find  in  me 

Your  voiceless  eloquence  and  balm  of  bliss, 

That  else  were  pain!     Mine  ancient  life  revives 

With  sweeter  potency:  I  am  a  Soul 

Responsive  unto  all  that  stirs  in  Man, 

Transforming  passion  to  a  natural  voice, 

From  airy  murmurs  of  the  fragrant  weeds 

To  the  hushed  roar  of  pines,  the  tramp  of  waves, 

And  bellowing  of  the  ocean-flooded  throats 

Of  headland  caverns!     Wafts  of  odorous  air, 

The  thousand-tinted  veils  of  dawn  and  day, 

The  changeless  Forms,  that  from  the  changing  Hours 

Take  magic  as  a  garment,  stellar  fire 

Sprinkled  from  hollow  space,  and  secret  tides 

Lifted  by  far,  fraternal  planets,  —  these 

Have  grown  to  speech,  companionship  and  power. 

Tired  of  the  early  mystery,  my  child 

Hearkens,  as  one  at  entrance  of  a  vale 

Never  explored,  for  echoes  of  his  call; 

And  every  lone,  inviolate  height  returns 

His  fainter  self,  become  a  separate  voice 

In  answer  to  his  yearning!     Not  as  "dam, 


96  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

With  hungry  mouth,  —  as  goddess,  with  bowed  heart 
He  wooes  me;  or  as  athlete,  million-armed, 
Summons  my  strength  from  immemorial  sleep. 
He  comes,  the  truant  of  the  ages,  —  comes, 
The  rash  forgetter  of  his  source;  as  lord 
He  comes,  —  lord,  paramour  and  worshipper, 
Tyrant  in  brain,  yet  supplicant  in  soul, 
With  fond  compulsion  and  usurping  love 
To  make  me  his! 

Still  scorned  are  ye,  fair  Forms 
I  sheltered?     Under  yonder  beechen  shade 
Hath  human  longing  set  ye?     Hide  my  streams 
Your  beauty  still,  my  mists  your  loosened  hair? 

NYMPHS  (at  a  distance). 

As  the  night-air  pants; 
As  the  wind-harp   chants; 
As  the  moonlight  falls 
Over  foliage  walls; 
As  gleams  forerun 
The  smile  of  the  sun 
When  clouds  are  parting, 
Our  beings   are. 
We  are  held  afar 
By  a  knowledge  burning 
In  the  heart  of  yearning; 
For  the   necromancy 
Of  the  fonder  fancy 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Breathes  back  into  air 
•  The  Presences  fair 
It  would  fain  restore: 
We  are  Souls  and  Voices, 
But  Forms  no  more! 


Ye  highly  live,  more  awful  in  the  spell 

Of  unseen  loveliness!     No  need  to  quit 

Your  dwellings,  strike  the  dull  sense  into  fear, 

And  win  a  shallow  worship:  Man's  clear  eye 

Sees  through  the   Hamadryad's  bark,  the  veil 

Of  scudding  Oread,  hears  the  low-breathed  laugh 

Of  Bassarid  among  the  vine's  thick  leaves, 

And  spies  a  daintier  Syrinx  in  the  reed. 

For  him  that  loves,  the  downward-stooping  moon 

Still  finds  a  Latmos:  Enna's  meadows  yet 

Bloom,  as  of  old,  to  new  Persephones; 

And  'twixt  the  sea-foam  and  the  sparkling  air 

Floats  Aphrodite,  —  nobler  far  than   first 

These  bright  existences,  and  yours,  withdrawn 

To  unattainable  heights  of  half-belief, 

Divine,  where  whole  reflects  the  hue  of  Man. 

NYMPHS. 

In  the  upward  pulse  of  the  fountain  ; 
On  the  sunny  flanks  of  the  mountain; 
Where  the  bubble  and  slide  of  the  rill 
7 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Is  heard  when  the  thickets  are  still; 
Where  the  light,  with  a  flickering  motion, 
From  the  last  faint  fringes  of  ocean 
Is  sprinkled  on  sand  and  shell; 
In  the  ferns  of  the  bowery  dell, 
And  the  gloom  of  the  pine-wood  dark, 
And  the  dew-cloud  that  hides  the  lark, 
The  sense  of  Beauty  shall  feel  us, 
The  touch  of  delight  reveal  us! 

[Exeunt. 


GJEA. 


Fear  not,  sweet  Spirits,  what  unflinching  law, 
Tracking  creative  secrets,  Man  may  find 
In  my  despotic  atoms!     Who  denies 
Confirms  ye  to  the  sense  that  bade  him  seek. 
But  thou,  mine  Eros,  through  whose  ministry 
Stole  back  the  banished  Beauty,  — as,  at  first, 
The  harmless  tear-like  trickle  of  a  stream 
Through  some  Cyclopean  dam,  that  softly  wins 
A  vantage,  till  the  whole  collected  lake 
Sets  its  large  lever  to  the  trembling  stones, 
And  freedom  follows,  — thou,  who,  well  I  know, 
Hidest  beneath  this  roof  of  summer  leaves, 
Or  where  the  minty  meadow-breath  makes  cool 
Thine  ardent  brow,  — appear,  and  speak  again! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


EROS. 

I  am  not  he  whom  Hermes  overcame, 
Nor  always  from  my  brother's  grosser  flame 

Held  my  pure  torch  afar: 

New  bows   I  span,  new  arrows  fill  my  quiver. 
Those  twain,  mine  enemies,  avoid  me  now, 
Stung  by  the  steady  radiance  of  my  brow, 

Nor,  save  in  secret,  mar 
My  lordship  over  them  that  I  deliver. 

The  penance  of  the  ages  was  in  vain  ; 

Old  sweetness  sprang  from  each  invented  pain, 

And  Love  increased  by  wrong, 
And  won  supremacy  by  sharp  denial. 
Faith  dungeoned  him,  till,  pining  for  the  day, 
He  stole  the  wings  of  Faith  and  soared  away: 

So  grew  my  nature  strong 
Through  conquered  violence,  and  pure  through  trial 

What  though  new  strains  enrich  my  airy  lute, 
The  primal  ecstasies  are  never  mute  ; 

No  throb  of  joy  is  missed, 
Nor  from  the  morn  is  any  splendor  taken. 
But  nuptials  of  the  senses  now  repeat 
The  mystery  of  equal  souls  that  meet, - 

That  kiss  when  lips  are  kissed, 
And  each  in  each  to  sovran  life  awaken ! 


I00  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

G.EA. 

Not  mine  to  guess  thy  riddles,  —  yet  I  see 

Near  manhood  in  thine  adolescent  limbs, 

Proud  lustre  in  thine  eyes,  as,  through  the  joy 

That  still  around  thee  sparkles,  other  joy 

Made  prophecy,  but  never  of  an  end, 

And  mystic  sweetness  in  thy  budded  lips. 

Nathless,  whenever  my  strong  spouse,  the  sun, 

Stoops  nearer,  sets  his  bosom  unto  mine 

And  stirs  all  fond,  sad  raptures  of  my  frame, 

Then  most   I  note  thee,  hurrying  to  and  fro, 

Sure  in  thy  speed;  or  when  he  lingering  leaves 

My  bed  of  long  delight  and  summershine 

With  last  caresses,  thou  on  every  hill 

Dost  walk  in  light,  and  breathest  through  the  woods 

Voluptuous  odors  of  the  yearning  year! 

Exalt  thyself  past  limits  of  my  law, 

I  feed  thee  still!    What  soaring  mist  of  mine, 

Sun-gilded,  but  the  iron  frost  of  space 

Shall  seize?     What  odor  reaches  to  the  stars? 

EROS. 

Nor  the    soul  of    the  wandering    odor,  nor   the   light    of 

the  mist,  is  thine, 
Who  art    rolled    through    day  and    darkness,  at  the  will 

of  a  star  divine  ; 
Who  claim'st  the  arrows  of  beauty,  alone  from  its  quiver 

sped,  — 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  IOI 

Thou  readest  but  half   the    riddle    in    the  dust  that  else 

were  dead ! 
Thy    life    is  blown    upon    thee,  as  a  seed    from    another 

land, 
And  the  soil,  and  the  dew  and  water,  are  the  bounty  of 

thy  hand ; 
But  the  secrets  of  whence  and  whither  are  mine  for  my 

children's  need  : 
I  go  with  the  flying  blossom,  as  I  came  with  the  flying 

seed ! 


SCENE  II. 

[A  spacious  square,  at  the  extremity  of  a  city.    In  front,  a  church  :  on  one  side 
a  c emetery,  with  an  open  gateway  :  on  the  other  side  a   market. ~\ 

PYRRHA  (looking  towards  the  gateway]. 
There,  out  of  stubborn  wrong  and  thwarted  hope 
And  helpless  ignorance,  Earth  has  only  gained 
A  heavier  mould;  and  she  must  heap  her  dead- 
As  the  slow  ages  on  her  bare  emerge 
Gathered  the  dust  for  grass,  the  deepening  sod 
For  forests  —  ere  our  seeds  of  total  life 
Find  rootage,  and  with  undecaying  green 
Redeem  this  desolation! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Yea,  but  eyes 

That  once  behold,  and  souls  that  once  believe, 
Lend  faith  and  vision  as  a  lamp  its  flame! 


102  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

Ay,  Faith !  that  limits  where  it  should  enlarge,  — 
That  sees  one  only  color,  where  the  sun 
Brands  ever  three,  nor  suffers  even  them 
To  burn  unblended ! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

'T  is  the  curse  of  souls 
That  selfless  aspiration  looks  above 
To  find  joy,  knowledge,  beauty,  waiting  there, 
Because  abandoned  here ! 

PYRRHA. 

So  mine  await : 
They  doubt  me,  not  forbid  me. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Doubt  but  feeds 

The  callow  faith  that  has  not  tried  its  wings. 
Be  comforted  ! 

PYRRHA. 
Deukalion,  is  it  time  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

How  often,  Pyrrha,  have  we  watched    the  morn 
Divinely  flush  —  and  fade  !     How  often  heard 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  103 

Music,  that,  ere  it  bade  us  quite   rejoice, 

Died,  echoless  !     Yet  Patience  cannot  be, 

Like  Love,  eternal,  save  at  times  it  grow 

To  swift  and  poignant    consciousness  of  self; 

And  something  veiled  from  knowledge  whispers  now 

Prometheus  stirs  in  Hades  ! 

PYRRHA. 

Barest  thou  call  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  dare  not.     Epimetheus   slowly  clears 
Back  through  the  gloom  and  chaos  of  the   Past 
The  path  of  his  return.     The  widening  sphere 
His  keener  vision  measures  now  for  Man 
Discrowns  Tradition,  shrinks  the  span  of    Time, 
And  throws  the  primal  purpose  of  our  fate 
Once  more  upon  us.     Thus  the  Titan  stands 
Nearer  than  when  the  frosty  fetters  burned 
His.  limbs  on  Caucasus ! 

PYRRHA. 

And  also  she, 

Pandora,  freed  from  long  disgrace  of  Time, 
Since  now  her  Hebrew  shadow  flings  away 
The  fabled  evil!     When  the  Past  is  purified, 
We  shall  possess  the  Future. 


104  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Yea,  our  source, 

As  from  the  bosom  of  a  mountain  mist, 
Leaps  out  of  Nature,  innocent  at  last ! 
In  our  beginning  Destiny  divine 
Set  the  accordant  end ;  and  this,  obscure, 
Makes  that  with  monstrous  intervention  dark 
To  human  souls.     Already  Earth  is  red 
With  ebbing  life-blood  of  the  wounded  Faiths 
That  shriek,  and  turn  their  faces  to  the  wall, 
And  shut  their  vision  to  the  holier  Heir, 
Who,  unproclaimed,  awaits  his  lordship.     Lo! 
How  he  who  governs  these  austerer  lands 
Withholds  his  gifts,  betrays  his  promises, 
Gives  freedom  for  repentance,  not  for  change, 
Nor  other  answer  than  his  own,  to   doubt! 
Foe  to  Medusa,  in  his  secret  dreams 
He  wears  her  triple  crown,  —  allows,  perforce, 
Urania,  banished  from  her  first   abodes, 
Chill  hospitality,  an  exile's  fare,— 
No  right  of  home  !     What  will  his  welcome  be, 
When  Epimetheus,  hand  in  hand  with  her, 
Tells  the  new  story  of  the  human   Past  ? 

\^Enter  a  Matt  and  Woman.~\ 

PRINCE  DEUKALION  (to  the  Man). 
Say,  dost  thou  know  me  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  105 

MAN. 

At  a  distance,  I 
Have  seen  thee  pass  :  I  never  heard  thy  name. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  speak  it  not. 

MAN. 

Thou  movest  my  desire 

To  know,  yet,  save  the  knowledge  be  allowed, 
No  less  my  fear:  there's  brightness  on  thy  face, 
As  one  who  sees  no  pitfall  in  delight, 
Nor  snare  in  science,  nor  the  burden  bears 
Of  fallen  nature. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Whence  is  thine  so  dark? 
Art  thou  in  love  with  pain? 


I  cannot  help 

Some  joys  of  life,  and  guilty  dreams  of  more  : 
But  He  who  suffered  for  my  sake  forbids 
That  I  rejoice  too  greatly. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Wisdom,  then, 
Wilt  thou  accept? 


io6 


PRINCE  DRUKALION 

MAN. 

The  wisdom  of  the  world? 
Nay:  'tis  vain-glory. 

WOMAN  (to  Pyrrha]. 

If  indeed  for  me 

Thou  hast  a  message,  as  thine  eyes  declare, 
Thou  knowest  my  need. 

PYRRHA. 

I  know  thine  ignorance. 

WOMAN. 
I  would  have  knowledge,  were  the  entrance  free. 

PYRRHA. 

Want  forces  entrance,  justifies  itself, 
As  hunger  crime  >     But  learn   what  Beauty  is, 
And  this,  thy  present  weakness  and  reproach, 
Becomes  immortal  power! 

WOMAN. 

When  I  behold 
Thy  face,   1  seem  to  own  it. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

Set  thou,  then, 

Whatever  visage  unto  thee  I  wear 
Within  the  shrine  of  thy  desires,  thereon 
To  brood  in  longings  born  of  motherhood, 
That  so  thy  daughters  shall  inherit  it, 
And  I  in  them  be  nearer  ! 

MAN  (to  the.  Woman}. 

Strange  the  words, 

Their  meaning  doubtful :  how  shall  thou  and  I, 
Bearing  Eternity's  full  weight  alone,  — 
Ours  all  the  debt,  foreclosed  if  other  coin 
Save  what  our  Faith  supplies  be  given  as  due, 
And  poor  in  deeds  that  earn  it,  —  how  shall  we 
Accept  such  help?     He  wears  the  face  of  Power, 
She  that  of  Beauty;  what  if  both  mislead? 

WOMAN. 

Her  spirit  touches  me,  as  doth  the  sun 
A  folded  bud:  if  I  become  a  flower, 
The  hue  and  fragrance  locked  within  my  life 
Without  my  will  are  scattered. 

MAN. 

Come  away! 

[  They  pass  on. 


107 


108  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

No  more  the  shepherd  and  the  shepherdess, 

Our  children  !     T  is  the  wisdom  of  the  school, 

So  grave  in  childish  self-sufficiency, 

That  turns  on   Nature  and  disowns  her  bliss. 

I  know  not  what  large  hope  awakens  now: 

Pandora,  Titan-mother  !  rise  and  see 

How  speeds  thy  purpose  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Ere  thou  summon  her, 
Or  he  unsummoned  rises,  let  us  seek 
The  stately  High-Priest  who  hath  ruled  so  long 
These  broadening  realms,  advancing  nobler  fate 
Even  where  he  willed  it  not,  the  instrument 
Of  that  diviner  mystery  than    his  God ! 
The  sky-cast  shadow  of  a  Hebrew  Chief 
Fades  o'er  his  altars  ;  and  the  aureoled    Love 
That  later  veiled  the  tyranny,  reveals 
A  change  in  its  intensest  splendor  wrought 
Invisibly:  if  he  hath  eyes  to  bear, 
His  ear  may  hearken,  when   Prometheus  calls. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  109 


SCENE   III. 

\The  interior  of  a  spacious  church.  In  the  chancel  a  lofty  altar,  on  the  front 
panel  whereof  is  carved  a  rayed  triangle  :  on  the  top  of  the  altar  rests  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant,  above  which  towers  a  Cross.  CALCHAS,  High- 
Priest,  stands  upon  a  raised  platform  before  the  altar,  clad  in  an  ephod 
of  gold,  blue,  purple  and  scarlet,  with  mitre,  girdle  and  breast-plate  of 
twelve  stones,  as  described  in  Exodus  xxxix.  PRINCE  DEUKALION  and 
PYRRHA  in  the  nave.] 

PYRRHA. 

Still  old  the  symbols  !  —  and  the  spirit  looks 
Backward  to  whence  they  came. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

So  should  it  look, 

But  free,  across  a  conquered  realm  !     The  Past 
Is   Man's  possession,  not  his  mocking  glimpse 
Through  loopholes  of  the  jail  where  Reason  pines. 
It  gives  the  Prophet  vision,  as  a  root 
Declares  the  measure  of  the  branch  it  feeds ; 
But  here  are  teachers,  who,  to  lead  the  blind, 
Hoodwink  themselves.     What  common  eye  can  see 
Past  things  as  present,  ancient  miracle 
To-day's  dull  fact,  God's  hand  upon  the  man 
It  looks  at?     Over  gulfs  of  ages  these 
First  find  their  sanctity,  as  our  dark  orb 
Drinks  light  from  ether  till  it  grows  a  star. 


HO  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PYRRHA. 

It  is  the  heart  that  dares  not  look  too  near, 
Nor  yet  too  high. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

The    heart,  that  doubts  the  brain, — 
Feeling,  divorced  from  knowledge,  —  this  it  is 
That  neither  loves  us  nor  can  be  estranged; 
That  dimly  plays  with  our  conjectured  will ; 
Obeys,  mistrusts  itself  and  grows  ashamed, — 
Then  turns  apostate  ! 

PYRRHA. 

Nay,  Deukalion,  nay!  — 
.That,  born  anew,  retains  the  old  desire; 
That,  kindled  once,  keeps  memory  of  the  flame; 
That  out  of  thwarted  yearning,  baffled  peace, 
And  endless  pangs  of  vain  self-surgery, 
Still  floods  all  life  with  fond  presentiment 
Of  thee  and  me  ! 

\_Sound  of  the  organ. 
CHANT. 

From  this  body  of  death  deliver, 

This  burden  of  woes ! 
We  call,  as  they  called  where  the  river 

Of  Babylon  flows. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  lll 

Like  the  wail  of  a  captive  nation 
Is  the  sound  of  our  lamentation. 
From  the  pleasures  that  still  delight  us; 
From  the  daily  sins  that  smite  us  ; 
From  the  difficult,  vain  repentance 
And  the  dread  of  the  coming  sentence; 
From  the  knowledge  that  gropes  and  stumbles; 
From  the  pride  of  mind  that  humbles  ; 
From  beauteous  gifts  that  harden, 
And  bliss  that  implores  not  pardon; 
From  the  high  dreams  that  enslave  us, 
We  beseech  Thee,  save  us  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Joy  in   Thy  world  divine, 
And  the  body  like  to  Thine  ; 
Pride  in  the  mind  that  dares 
To  scale  Thy  starry  stairs, 
Rising,  at  each  degree, 
The  least  space  nearer  Thee  ; 
Strength  to  forget  the  ill, 
So  Thy  good  to  fulfil ; 
Freedom  to  seek  and  find 
All  that  our  dreams  designed, 
Driven  by  Thine  own  goads 
Forth  on  a  thousand  roads; 
Patience  to  wrest  from  Time 
Something  of  Truth  sublime, 


H2  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Or  of  Beauty  that  shall  live, — 
We  beseech  Thee,  give  ! 

CALCHAS. 

(Perceiving  PRINCE   DEUKALION   and  PYRRHA.) 
I  do  mistrust  these  strangers.     Since  that  she, 
Medusa,  thrust  them  out  from  all  her  realms, 
What  time  she  banished  her  of  orb  and  star 
I  sheltered  (threatening  now  with  adder  sting 
For  life  revived),  they  wander  to  and  fro  - 
Or  others  in  their  likeness,  —  and  disturb 
My  settled  sway.     Freedom  I  gave,  because 
Free-will  must  choose  me,  —  bade  men  seek  the  truth 
Because  the  truth  conducts  them  back  to  me. 
Urania,  with  her  forward-peering  eyes, 
Saw  not  the  vestments,  which,  to  mark  her  mine, 
I  laid  upon  her  shoulders  :  suddenly  now, 
Full-statured,  with  uplifted  head  she  walks, 
And  drops  her  loosed  phylacteries  in  the  dust. 
These,  too!  —  whate'er  they  purpose  must  be  mine, 
If  good,  since  other  good  exists  not:  yet 
They  stir  some  quick  perversity  of  heart 
In  man  and  woman,  teach  abolished  needs, 
And  open  gates  I  shut  —  but  may  not  bar. 
They  come  this  way.     I'll  question  them. 


PRINCE  DEUK ALTON.  I 

PRINCE    DEUKALION  (advancing). 

High-Priest, 
Thou  shouldst  proclaim  us,  and  thou  know'st  us  not! 

CALCHAS. 

Much  have  I  heard. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

What  most? 

CALCHAS. 

That  ye  do  breed 
Confusio  i. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Nay! — but  out  of  thine  we  build 
The  ruined  harmony. 

CALCHAS. 

Then,  enemies 

Ye  now  declare  yourselves,  where  I  but  deemed 
Some  seed  of  pride  had  sprouted  o'er  its  fall. 
What  is  \  ye  do? 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

What  thou  hast  never  done, 

Who  hast  one  purpose  where  thy  sons  need  all, 
Who  keep'st  them  puppets  lest  they  grow  to  Gods! 

8 


II4  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

CALCHAS. 

I  seek  to  save  them. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

They  will  save  themselves, 

Not  by  one  anchor  which  may  drag  them  down, 
But  carried  outward  by  all  winds  that  blow 
Into  the  shoreless  deep!     Give  knowledge  room, 
Yea,  room  to  doubt,  and  sharp  denial's  gust 
That  makes  all  things  unstable  !     Tremble  not 
When  stern   Urania  writes  the  words  of   Law: 
Make  once  more  Life  the  noble  thing  it  was 
When  Gods  were  human,  or  the  nobler  thing 
It  shall  be  when  The  God  becomes  divine  ! 

CALCHAS. 

Blasphemer  ! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Curse,  if  so  it  comfort  thee. 
Thy  weapon,  too,  is  terror;  but  when  men 
Cease  to  be  cowards,  idle  Hell  shall  close. 

PYRRHA. 

Yield  what  thou  canst :  there  still  is  time.     Give  up 

Dead  symbols  of  the  perished  ages  :  doff 

The  trappings  of  a  haughty  alien  race 

Whose  speech  was  never  thine  :  keep  but  the  spark 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  LIr 

Of  pure  white  Truth  which  nor  repels,  forbids 
Nor  stings,  but  ever  broadening  warms  the  world  ! 
Think  what  thy  lips  have  promised,  how  thy  hand 
Rent  suddenly  our  chains  !     Nearest  thou  art 
Of  them  that  sway  the  torpid  souls  of  men  : 
So,  then,  be  all  where  thou  art  but  a  part,  — 
Be  all,  teach  all,  grant  all,  and  make  thyself 
Eternal ! 

CALCHAS. 

Am  I  not  so,  now  ? 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Not  yet, 

Save  in  the  taste  of  that  thou  offerest,  - 
Repentance. 

PYRRHA. 
And  thou  mightst   be,  in  thy  love. 

CALCHAS. 

Repentance  ?     Love  ?     What  words  are  these  you  speak  ? 
One  wins  the  other :   I  announce  them    both, 
And  all  beatitude  that  follows  them. 
Beyond  the  curse  inherited  by  flesh, 
Beyond  this  cloudy  valley,  where  as  rain 
Fall  human  tears,  and  sighs  of  vain  desires 
Make  an  incessant  gust,   I  know  the  way 
To  refuge,  and  the  one  permitted  bliss 
Of  living  souls. 


U5  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Let  me  behold  that  bliss! 
I  have  the  right  of  entrance  :  fear    thou  not ! 
The  phantom  key  thy  hand  yet  seems  to  clutch 
Lend  me  a  moment;  or,  canst  thou  not  yield, 
Then  stand  aside!— O  Father,  is  it   time? 

PROMETHEUS  (rises). 

What  matters,  whether  soon  or  late  ? 
Thine  is  the  burden,  thine  the  fate. 
Long  hast  thou  waited,  not  too  long, 
For  patience  is  the  test  of  wrong; 
And  thee  the  slow  years   may  allow 
Some  right  of  deeper  vision  now. 
The  trial  art  thou  strong  to  bide, 
Explore  thy  way!— there  is  no  guide. 

[Disappears. 
PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

(Seizing  the  horns  of  the  Ark  upon  the  altar  ^ 

I  know  what  holy  mysteries  were  thine 

In  the  old  days:  but  what  art  thou  become? 

Yield  up  thy  spells  to  one  who  saw  thee  pass 

Through  the  dusk  halls  where  Amun-Ra  was  lord, 

Or  Nile-borne  on  thy  barque  of  flowers  !     What  lore 

Of  wandering  souls  —  of  life  beyond  the  end- 

Is  thine  to  give  us  ? 

[A  paust 


PRINCE   DEUKALION.  u 

Nothing  more  than  this  ?  - 
Gray  emptiness  of  space,  with  here  and  there 
A  flying  shadow,  whether  man  or  fiend 
The  eye  detects  not:  something  vast  of  form, 
Yet   Hebrew-featured,  stirred  to  mighty  wrath 
By  hostile  Gods,  defending,  as  it  seems, 
A  throne  secure,  —  uncertain  of  His  will, 
And  undecided  if  His  sons  shall  live. 
They,  too,  poor  ghosts  !  must  hover  on  the  verge 
Betwixt  two  worlds:  they  reach  no  firmer  soil 
Of  airy  substance,  yet  which  may  upbear 
Thin  feet  of  spirits,  but  in  endless  whirl 
Drift  through  the  shapeless  void.     I  '11  look  no  more. 

[He  lays  his  hand  upon  the  Cross. 

Symbol  of  Fire,  the  oldest,  holiest ! 
Forget  thy  speech  on  Asia's  hoary  hills, 
Dip  thy  pure  arms  in  blood  of  sacrifice, 
And  tell  me  what  thou  heraldest ! 

CALCHAS. 

A  vaunt ! 

PYRRHA. 

There  is  less  profanation  in  his  act 

Than  in  thy  prayers.     Be  silent,  —  wait  the  end  ! 

[PRINCE  DEUKALION'S  eyes  close:  he  slowly  sinks  down  and  lies, 

leaning  against  the  altar. 


ng  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

SCENE    IV. 
THE    VISION    OF    PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

As  out  of  mist  an  unknown  island  grows, 

It  swam  in  space,  surrounded  with  repose. 

"  Behold,"  an  airy  whisper  said,  "  the  sphere 

Through  hope  existing,  as  yon  pit  through  fear; 

For  what  men  pray  for --while  they  pray --shall  last, 

Since  Faith  creates  her  Future  as  her  Past." 

No  light  of  sun,  or  moon,  or  any  star 

Touched  the  white  battlements  that  gleamed  afar, 

Or  painted  with  strong  ray  the  pastures  wide 

Between  slow  stream  and  easy  mountain-side, 

But  over  all  such  cold  and  general  glow 

As  moonlight  spreads  upon  a  land  of  snow, 

Yet  fairer,  shone  ;  and  myriads  wandered  there, 

Giving  no  stir  to  that  unbreathing  air, 

White  as  the  meadow-blossoms,  and  as  still, 

And  white  as  clouds  on  each  unshadowed  hill. 

A  city  vast,  that  bore  an  earthly  name, 

With  thousand  pinnacles  of  frost  and  flame 

Stood  in  the  midst ;  and  twelvefold  flashed  unrolled 

The  pavements  of  her  avenues  of  gold, 

Where  harps  and  voices  one  high  strain  did  pour 

Of  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  !  "  evermore. 

And  out  the  centre,  from  the  burnished  glare, 

A  golden  stairway  sloped  athwart  the  air, 


PRINCE  DEUK ALTON.  Iig 

And  faded  upward,  where  a  Phantom  shone 
That  changed  in  form  to  them  that  gazed  thereon. 
These,  side  by  side,  and  wing  caressing  wing, 
Rested  like  wild  doves  on  their  wandering, 
Innumerable  :  and  o'er  them  seraphim 
Winnowed  rich  plumes  to  make  the  glory  dim, 
And  children's  faces,  kissed  with  sweeter   light, 
Circled  in  swarms  around  a  Throne  of  white. 
Shapes  of  no  sex,  too  beautiful  for  man, 
Too  cold  for  woman,  spread  the  rosy  van 
And  slanted,  shining,  far  amid  the  space. 
Some  pleasure  came  on  each  uplifted  face 
To  see  those  messengers,  —  some  rapid  awe, 
When  that  high   Form,  with  hidden  brow,  they  saw,  — 
But  else  their  eyes  were  weary,  and  the  fold 
Of  each  white  mantle  slept  upon  the  gold. 
Dead  seemed  their  hands,  save  when  the  harps  they  smote 
And  made  accord  of  one  perpetual  note. 
The  entrance  of  a  living  spirit  there 
Gave  a  quick  motion  to  the  torpid  air, 
Startled  the  light  with  shadow,  and  breathed    out 
Keen  earthly  odors  ;  yet  of  dread  or  doubt 
Among  the  myriad  myriads  was  no  sign. 
A  listless  wonder  woke  in  souls  supine, 
But  made  no  speech,  for  consciousness  was  numb, 
Save  to  the  awful  voice  of  what  must  come, 
As  on  dead  continents  the  live  sea's  roar : 
"  Forevermore  !     Forevermore  !  " 


120  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Angels,  a  moment  stay 
Your  heavenly  errands,  and  betray 
What  nature,  beautiful  and  dim,   ' 
As  m  some  twilight  dream  of  power 
Is  born  for  one  bright  hour, 
Ye  have  received  from  Mini ! 
Shorn  of  all  kin  are  ye, 
Companionless,  unwed 
With  primal  mortals,  loveless,  passion-free, 
Mot  living,  neither  dead  ! 

Declare  me  this  : 
Is  it  your  only  bliss 

To  sail,  soft-shining,  with  your  wings  outspread  ? 
To  cheat^the  ecstasy  ye  cannot  share, 
With    apparitions  fair? 
To  give  each  holy  dream 
Its  warranty  supreme, 
The  palm  to  promise,  and  the  lily  bear? 

ANGELS. 

We  cannot  know  • 
We  are  the  feather,  His  the  breath  to  blow. 

Though  human  yearning  mould 
Our  passive  being,  we  are  cold. 
Pity,  to  eyes  that  mourn  ; 
Passion,  to  hearts  that    burn  • 


PRINCE  DEUKALION,  I2I 

Reward,  to  lives  that  dare; 

Salvation,  unto  prayer,  — 
What  face  men  look  for,  such  we  wear! 
Unborn,  we  have  no  destiny, 
Nor  other  being  than  to  be; 

Nor  service,   but  to  soar 
'Twixt  One  Adored  and  many  that  adore. 

What  should  we  further  tell? 
Thou  hast  no  message :  so  farewell ! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

But  ye,  Transfigured,  whose  denial 

Endured  the  life-long  trial, — 
Pure  souls,  whose  only  human  terror 

Made  Thought  an  ambushed  error, 

Who  now  possess,  secure  from  losing, 

The  bliss  of  your  own  choosing, 
Speak,  are  there  needs  ye  here  have  sighed  for, 

More  than  on  earth  ye  died  for? 

SPIRITS. 
Is  it  permitted  ? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  am  here. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


SPIRITS. 

We  tremble,  yet  we  must  not  fear. 
The  bright  temptation  of  thy  brow 
We  once  resisted,  conquers  now; 
But  thought  unused  and  voice  unheard 
Deny  us  the  consenting  word. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Look  on  me,  and  it  shall  be  given! 

SPIRITS. 

O  joy  !   O  pain  ! 
As  leaves  from  autumn  boughs    are  driven, 

At  last,  at  last, 
Thy  will  hath  torn  us  from  our  Past, 

And  half  we  live  again  ! 
Yea,  here  is  glory,  here  is  bliss, 
Arms  that  sustain  us,  lips  that  kiss, 
And  rest,  and  peace,  and  pain's  reward 
In  that  pure  light  which  seems  the  Lord; 
But  —  bliss  without  endeavor, 
And  lips  that  cannot  part; 
And  rest  that  sleeps  forever 

In  each  immortal  heart ; 
And  light  whose  splendor  hideth 

The  Face  we  burn  to  see  — 
What  is  it  that  divideth 
Eternity  and  thee  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 
PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  am  eternal,  even  as  ye. 

But  your  concealed,  undying  woe 

Is  this  :  ye  have  not  sought  to  know. 

SPIRITS. 
We  did  obey. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

But  whom,  ye  may  not  say. 
Have  ye  beheld  Him? 

SPIRITS. 

Nay. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Once  more  upon  Him  call : 
Uplift  awakened  eyes! 
Though  falling  as  ye  fall, 
He  rises  as  ye  rise. 

SPIRITS. 

His  Will  in  dreams  wre  saw, 
And  left  unlearned  His  guiding  law ; 

We  forced  our  lives  to  crave, 
Through  bondage,  what  His  freedom  gave  ; 

Till,  having  fondly  wrought, 
We  own  the  Paradise  we  sought,  — 


PRINCE   DEUKALION. 

Self-bound,  and  over-blessed 
With  endless  weariness  of   rest ! 


One  multitudinous  sigh  was  breathed  along 

The  golden  avenues,  and  shook  the  song: 

But  far  aloft  they  heard  a  trumpet  blown, 

And  keen  white  splendor  gathered  round  the  Throne. 

Then  slowly  up  the  ether-darkened  blue 

The  meads  and  hills   and  battlements  withdrew, 

Till  all  the  sphere  became  a  silvery  moon, 

With  ever-lessening  disk,  and  star-like  soon, 

And  faded  out:  but  in  the  hollow  space 

All  suns  and  planets  kept  their  ancient  place. 


SCENE  V. 

[A  wide  plain,  uninhabited,  dotted  with  ancient  mounds.  EPIMETHEUS,  seated 
on  a  fallen  pillar,  at  the  doorway  of  a  half-exhumed  palace,  with  a  broken 
tablet  in  his  hand.} 

EPIMETHEUS. 

It  is  the  speech   I  heard  but  yesterday, 
When  all  this  buried  pomp  stood  bright  in  air, 
Terrace  on  terrace,  till  the  topmost  seemed 
Fit  for  the  feet  of  some  descending  God, 
While  bannered  masts  and  galleries  of  sound 
Hailed  him,  invisible;  and  whispered  words 
To  consecrated  ears,  these  tablets  bore  ; 


PRINCE  DEUK ALTON.  I2r 

And  the  wide  shadow  of  this  power  was  thrown 
O'er  half  the  world.     What  said  Prometheus  then, 
When,  groping  first  on  fields  of  unblown  mist, 
I  sought  to  hold  the  ever-vanishing  forms 
With  stable  vision  ?  —  "  'T  is  the  Future's  gift, 
To  know  the  Past !  " 

Yet  I  had  mused,  not  slept, 
Through  weary  ages  :  't  was  alone  their  dust 
That  made  me  seem  so  hoary.     Action,  now, 
And  waxing  knowledge,  destiny  fulfilled, 
Restore  the  ardors  of  Titanic  youth. 
Though  lost  the  primal  struggle,  lost  the  joy 
That  even  defeat  to  high  defiance  yields, 

I  am  at  last  a  Power,  and  challenge  Powers, 

A  truth,  and  thus  a  terror !     In  my  veins 
Burns  eager  blood;    I  know  my  brow  is  fair, 
My  voice  hath  music,  and  the  ears  of  men 
Perforce  must  hearken,  as  I  tell  the  tale 
Of  ever  older  and  of  mightier  Pasts, 
Lost  tongues  and  sacred  secrets,  stolen  faiths, 
Perverted  symbols,  and  the  favor  shed  — 
One  tribe  usurped  —  upon  the  Chosen  All! 

[Enter  URANIA.] 
URANIA. 

What  doest  thou  here  ? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

I  triumph  ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


URANIA. 

Wherefore  now, 
More  than  erewhile? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

I  have  remembered  that 
Forgotten,  when  I  saw  nor  understood; 
And  now  remembered  since  I  know. 

URANIA. 
(Taking  up  a  handful  of  dust.} 

And  I 

Have  found  in  this  the  secret  of  all  worlds. 
Thy  Past  ?     I  know  no  Past !     Thou  dream'st  of  time. 
It  is  not,  was  not  !     Nothing  is,  save  Law. 
Thy  feet  are  on  my  paths:  not  heeding  them 
I  guided  thee,  yet  in  so  much  of  power 
As  may  be  given  thee,  more  of  freedom  lies 
For  them  that  follow  me  and  cannot  turn. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

Proud  wast  thou  ever. 

URANIA. 

Proud,  because  assailed, 
As  who,  with  full  hands  bearing  gifts,  is  spurned. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


127 


EPIMETHEUS. 

Yet  pause  !     I  am  no  longer  slack  of  thought : 
I  know  thy  being.     Though  I  give  return 
Of  needed  help,  the  will  which  sent  me  forth 
Hath  still  some  ancient  empire  over  thee. 

URANIA. 

Yea,  thou  art  wakened  !     Why  should  I  conceal 
From  thee,  thus  proud,  associate  soon  with  him, 
Thy  brother,  whose  large  vision  moves  with  mine, 
The  ultimate  barrier  where  I  needs  must  pause  ? 
But  thou,  and  every  Titan  yoked  with  thee, 
And  every  track  that  other  knowledge  treads, 
And  all  the  visions  unto  Faith  allowed, 
Reach  not  so  far :  what  matter  if  I  halt, 
Not  impotent,  where  no  disturbance  comes 
To  vex  me,  resting  but  a  little  while  ? 
Push  back  that  point  where  thou  rememberest  not 
Through  countless  aeons,  still  thou  find'st  my  trail ! 
Grasp  thou  the  seeds  of  life  in  sun  and  star, 
And  sink  then,  fainting,  where   I  stand  and  smile  ! 
T  is  not  subjection,  but  a  limit,  rules  : 
My  work  is  baffled  since  I  could  not  give 
The  primal  impulse. 


Prometheus  ! 


EPIMETHEUS. 

Neither  thou,  nor  he, 


I28  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


URANIA. 

Cease  !  —  thy  words  renew  the  chill 
That  seizes  me  at  each  new  victory. 
The  cry  of  old  affections  shakes  my  hand; 
The  gush  of  human  heart's-blood  comes  to  dim 
My  crystal  eyesight;  and  a  something  lost, 
Because  unsought,  perchance  unsearchable,  - 
Unknown,  because  unknowable  to  sense,  - 
Assails  my  right. 

EPIMETHEUS. 

There  is  no  enmity 

Where  neither  can  be  lord:  do  thou  thy  task, 
I  mine,  and  each  eternal  Force  its  own  ! 


SCENE   VI. 

[The  shore  of  the  open  ocean  :  morning.} 
PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Thou  lookest  eastward,  past  the  gem-like  round, 
The  sky  of  opal  and  the  sea  of  pearl: 
I  surely  misinterpret  not  thy  hope, 
Or  is  't  thy  longing  ? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

Say,   my  haughty  faith, 

That  will  not  pray  for  what  it  must  expect. 
Once  have  I  called  on  Eos,  but  I  call 
No  more  :  the  silver  echo  of  her  words 
Repeats  itself  within  me,  as  their  vows 
To  happy  lovers.     Thus  it  was  she  spake  : 
"  Faith,  when  none  believe, 
Truth,  when  all  deceive, 
Freedom,  when  force  restrains, 
Courage  to  sunder  chains, 
Pride,  when  good  is  shame, 
Love,  when  love  is  blame,  — 
These  shall  call  me  in  stars  and  flame !  " 
Thence  call  I  not;  but,  yonder,  as  I  gaze, 
The  twin  stars,  visible  no  more  to  sense,  « 

Glimmer,  the  phantoms  of  her  eyes;   the  red, 
Now  fading,  is  her  cheek's  immortal  flush, 
And  the  loose  golden  opulence  of  her  hair 
These  clouds  untangle. 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Here  her  face  revealed 

Would  doubly  promise,  as  the  mirroring  wave 
Doubled  her  loveliness.     The  conquering  Gods 
Made  too  much  haste  to  seize  a  mountain-throne 
This  were  their  seat;  but  old  Poseidon  took 

9 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  realm  that  should  be  Jove's,  where,  set  between 
The  unknown  silence  and  the  noise  of  earth, 
Are  two  pure  elements,  pavement  and  dome. 
Here  glimpse  upon  the  soul  imagined  shores; 
Here  Fancy  out  of  changeful  air  may  build 
Her  far-off  palaces  ;  yet  what  of  truth, 
Accepted  fate  or  world-defying  will 
Exists,  confirms  as  well  its  being,  here. 
Time  is  the  billow,  Destiny  the  shore. 

PYRRHA. 

Deukalion!     Seest  thou  naught? 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

I  see  the  gray 

Of  waves  that  first  shall  darken  to  the  sun  ; 
The  distance,  where  no  separating  line 
Cuts  the  soft  web  of  sky-inwoven  sea; 
And  all  the  dipping  rondure  of  the  world 
Beneath  it,  where  the  mighty  Day  looks  down, 
Or  sadly  lingers  for  the  word  and  deed 
Undone,  unspoken  ! 

PYRRHA. 

Ah!  as  out  of  air 

It  suddenly  grew,  I  see  a  glorious  barque 
With  bellied  canvas  of  the  morning  cloud, 
The  cordage  of  translucent  vapor  spun, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

The  hull  a  curve  of  sea-foam,  foamlessly 
Borne  onward,  silent,  with  unruffled  prow 
Approaching  us  !     Two  forms  direct  her  speed, 
And  cither's  arm  is  on  the  other's  neck, 
And  locks  of  gray  and  gold  are  mixed  above 
Their  equal  brows.     Thou  hast  not  called  them  ? 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Nay, 

And  yet,  beholding  not,   I   know  the  twain. 
Oh,  come  ye  hither  from  the  unmeasured  Deep, 
And  not  from   Hades?     Come  ye  with  the  morn, 
Unsummoned,  though  the  morning's  goddess  fail  ? 
Come  ye,  at  last,  whose  birth  reversed  your   fates, 
United,  one  in  knowledge,  one  in  power  ? 
Father,  and  thou,  alike  a  father,  hail  ! 

[PROMETHEUS  and  EPIMETHEUS  appear^ 
PROMETHEUS. 

What  language  hath,  to-day,  the  sea, 

To  chill,  inspire  or  menace  thee  ? 

What  eager  hope  or  spleen  forlorn 

Blew  on  thee  through  the  gates  of  morn  ?  — 

Or  were  thy  power  and  purpose  dumb 

To  speak  our  coming,  ere  we  come  ? 


PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LION. 


PYRRHA. 

Not  in  dejection  did  we  brood, 
Hearkening  the  many  voices  of  the  sea. 

But  for  the  scattered  spirits  free 
Which  lure,  yet  mock,  the  captive  multitude  ; 

And  for  these  last,  who  yet 
Can  neither  learn  new  things,  nor  old  forget ; 

And  to  fulfil  thy  plan 
That  woman  shall  be  woman,  man  be  man, 

We  pondered,  here  apart, 
One  wisdom  for  the  brain  and  heart  1 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Not  in  dejection,  no  !  —  while  every  Force, 

Once  idle,  formless,  unto  Man  becomes 

A  god  to  labor  and  a  child  to  guide  ; 

While  Space,  obstructing  human  will  no  more, 

Makes  Time  a  tenfold  ally;  while  the  draught 

Of  knowledge,  once  a   costly  cup,  invites 

Free  as  the  wayside  brook  to  whoso  thirsts, 

And  aspiration,  trying  lonely  wings, 

Escapes  the  ancient  arrow  !     These  are  gams 

We  cannot  lose;  but  what  new  justice  comes 

With  them,  to  right  Earth's  everlasting  wrong? 

The  weariness  of  work  that  never  sees 

Its  consequence  ;  chances  of  joy  denied 

To  noble  natures,  prodigal  for  mean; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Helpless  inheritance  of  want  and  crime; 

The  simplest  duties  never  owned  untaught, 

The  highest  marred  by  holy  ignorance ; 

Crowned  Self,  that  with    his  impudent  hollow  words 

Is  noisiest,  and  Vanity  that  deems 

His  home  the  universe,  his  day  all  time  ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

These  are,  and  they  shall  be  ; 
Nor  less,  though  thine  impatience  fret. 
Man  is  a  child  upon  thy  knee, 

And  earth  his  cradle  yet. 
Unto  thy  voice  his  quickening  ears 

Open  a  little  space, 
Till,  taught  by  dreams  of  countless  years, 

His  eyes  shall  know  thy  face. 

PYRRHA. 

I  stand  as  one  that  after  darkness  feels 

The  twilight:  all  the  air  is  promise-flushed, 

Yet  strangely  chill,  and  though  the  sense  delight 

In  sweet  deliverance,  something  in  the  blood 

Cries  for  the  sun.     Ye  know,  who  set  my  work, 

It  is  no  selfish  passion.     Shorn  are  they, 

And  by  the  fondest  fate,  of  action's  crown, 

My  daughters,  —  so,  denied  their  part 

In  old  divinity  and  balanced   right 

Of  man's  prone  worship,  losing  thence 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Some  honor  Time  is  ignorant  to  restore. 

They  need  their  equal  half  of  all  there  is, 

Uniting,  not  dividing,  Life.     Who  twains 

What  once  was  one,  makes  both  more  grandly  one  ; 

Or  thou  and  I,  Deukalion,  could  not  be  ! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Now  should  Pandora  speak! 
Withdrawn  the  demigoddess  sits, 
And  silent,  yet  there  flits 
A  flush  across  her  cheek, 
A  soft  light  o'er  her  eye, 
And  half  her  proud  lips  smile  : 
Unto  thy  hope,  the  while, 
Be  this  enough   reply  ! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION    (to    EPIMETHEUS). 

What  bear'st  thou  from  thine  East? 

EPIMETHEUS. 

The  living  Past 

That  from  its  grave  my  former  being  caught, 
And  left  me  youth. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Which,  backward  sent 

To  Man's  dim  childhood,  where  thy  memory  dies, 
Foresees  with  me. 


PRINCE  DE 'UK 'A LION.  135 


EPIMETHEUS. 

And  active  even  as  thou ! 

I  bring  dread  knowledge:  change  and  overthrow, 
•  Despair  of  creeds,  and  shaking  of  the  shrines, 
And  fruitless  building  till  the  Builder  come, 
Are  in  my  hands.     The  Gods  of  races   I 
Unseat,  as  Time  or  Tyranny  of  old 
Unseated  them,  by  one  subversive  lore 
Of  equal  truth  revealed  to  them   that  seek, 
None  self-elected  as  depositors, 
But  His  eternal  Covenant  with   Life 
For  all,  forever! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Who  shall  teach  that  lore? 

PROMETHEUS. 

Its  whisper  now  sets  every  wind  of  earth 
Vibrating:  hearken,  here!  —  the  subtle  sea 
Hath  learned  it  from  the  happier  stars,  and  bears 
The  message  to  his  loneliest  isles  ;  the  buds 
Expand  it  in  their  blossoms  ;  helpless  souls 
Discover  it  and  rejoice,  forebode  and  flee. 
Truth  gathers  being  as  the  fire  in  air, 
Until,  surcharged,  it  drops  a  blazing  bolt 
And  speaks  in  thunder. 


136  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Who  shall  hurl  those  thrones, 
Untenanted,  beside  all  wrecks  of  Power, 
And  dwell  above  them,  that  mankind  may  rise  ? 

PROMETHEUS. 

He  is  unknown. 

ECHOES. 

Unknown  !  —  yet  known. 

PROMETHEUS. 

He  is  alone. 

ECHOES. 

Alone! — yet  with  His  Own. 


ACT    IV. 

SCENE  I. 
[A  vast  flowery  meadow  :  the  sea,  cities  and  mountains  in  the  distance.'} 

AGATHON  (a  child). 

(Solus.) 

SOULS  know  their  errands,  —  yet  must  live, 
Ere  speaking,  all  the  truth  they  give. 
Sad  must  their  brooding  childhood  be 
Who  teach  the  old  captivity, 
And  ah  !  how  sad,  perplexed  and  strange 
Is  theirs  who  see,  but  cannot  change  ; 
How  dark  who  build  not,  yet  destroy,  — 
But  mine,  at  last,  but  mine  is  joy  ! 

No  herald  star  announced  my  birth  ; 
Men  know  not  that  I  tread  the  earth ; 
I  fashion  not  the  doves  of  clay 
That,  when   I  bid  them,  soar  away; 
Nor  twine  the  rose,  in  sportive  need 
To  make  prophetic  temples  bleed ; 
Nor  look,  from  eyes  of   early  woe, 
The  agony  I  shall  not  know ! 
O   Purest,   Holiest!  —  not  thy  path 
'Twixt  tortured  love  and  ancient  wrath 


138 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

Is  mine  to  follow:  none  again 
Wins  thy  beatitude  of  pain: 
But  all  the  glory  of  the  Day, 
All  beauty  near  or  far  away, 
All  bliss  of  life  that,  born  within, 
Makes  quick  forgetfulness  of  sin, 
Attend  me,  and  through  me  express 
The  meaning  of  their  loveliness. 

Yonder,  the  weary,  longing  race 

Conjecture  my  maturer  face, 

Nor  dream  the  child's  —  when  they  behold 

Beneath  its  locks  of  sunburnt  gold- 

That  only  says  :  "  My  life  is  sweet ; 

The  crisp,  cool  grasses  love  my  feet; 

The  lulling  air  my  body  takes 

To  slumber,  and  the  wave  awakes; 

And  pleasure  comes  from  soil  and  flower, 

And  out  of  lightning  falls  a  power, 

And  from  the  breath  of  ancient  trees 

The  vigor  that  enriches  ease, 

And  from  the  mountain-haunted  skies 

The  will  that  ruins,  save  it  rise!" 

Be  the  white  wings  of  Duty  furled 

To-day,  and  let  me  own  the  world  !  - 

The  azure  flag-flower  basks  in  heat, 

Yet  cools,  below,  her  plashy  feet; 

The  footsteps  of  the  breezes  pass 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

In  shadow-ripples  down  the  grass, 
And  glimmers,  where  the  pool  is  thin, 
The  slide  of  many  a  silver  fin. 
Beam  on  my  bosom,  warmth  divine, 
Until  its  pulsing  currents  shine 
Like  yonder  river's  !  —  pour  the  flame 
Of  supple  life  through  all  my  frame, 
Till  consciousness  of   beauty  there 
Gives  me  the  glory  I  should  wear ! 
My  limbs  shall  float,  my  motions  be 
Each  a  new   change  of  ecstasy, 
Nor  shall  I  breathe  except  to  know 
What  savors  the  swift  airs  bestow, 
While  pure,  as  when  its  beats  began, 
The  heart  to  music  builds  the  man ! 

I  know  I  AM,  —  that  simplest  bliss 
The  millions  of  my  brothers  miss. 
I  know  the  fortune  to  be  born, 
Even  to  the  meanest  wretch  they  scorn  ; 
What  mingled  seeds  of  life  are  sown 
Broadcast,  as  by  a  hand  unknown, 
(A  Demon's  or  a  child-god's  way 
To  scatter  fates  in  wilful  play  !)  — 
What  need  of  suffering  precedes 
All  deeper  wisdom,  nobler  deeds; 
And  how  man's  soul  may  only  rise 
By  something  stern  that  purifies. 


139 


140  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

But  here  I  gather,  ere  my  hour 

Shall  call,  the  fresh,  untainted  power 

Of  Nature,  half  our  mother  yet, 

And  angry  when  her  sons  forget. 

Far  as  the  living  ether  bends 

My  being   through  her  own  extends ; 

Free  as  a  bird's  to  sink  and  soar 

O'er  meadow,  mountain,  sea  and  shore  ; 

One  with  the  happy  lives  that  breed 

Their  like  in  spawn,  and  egg,  and  seed ; 

One  with  the  careless  motes  that  stray 

To  gather  gold  for  dying  day, 

And  with  the  dainty  sorcery 

Of  odors  blown  far  out  to  sea, 

That  say  to  mariners  on  the  wing  :  - 

The  unseen  earth  is  blossoming! 

But  farther,  finer,  airier  yet 

A  soul  may  spin  its  mystic  net, 

And,  with  unconscious  heart-beat  sped 

Vibrating  on  each  gossamer  thread, 

Declare  itself  and  all  it  gives, 

Though,  speaking  not,  it  simply  lives  ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


SCENE    II. 


[The  interior  of  a  spacious  church,  as  in  Act  III.,  Scene  III.  Noon  :  the  win 
dows  are  open,  and  the  nave  is  filled  with  sunshine.  URANIA,  slowly 
pacing  down  the  main  aisle.] 


URANIA. 


An  added  step,  and  these  groined  arches  fall! 

The  mine  beneath  the  fortress  of  my  foe 

Is  dug,  the  fuse  is  laid,  and    only  fails 

One  spark  of  fire,  but  such  as  must  be  stolen 

Elsewhere  than  from  mine  atoms.      How,  save   I, 

Myself,  create,  shall   I  creation  solve  ? 

Exalted  thus,  and  throned  on  rigid   Law, 

That  bids  a  million  universes  whirl 

In  the  inconceivable   Immensity,  - 

Earth  but  a  mote,  and    all  humanity 

Its  faint  result,  —  shall   I  admit  desire 

As  cause,  not  sequence,  fondest  dreams  as  fact, 

And  vast  inflation  of  the  vapory  Self 

Beyond  all  spheres  of  sense  ?     With    my  large  scheme 

This  last  breathes  interference  :  unto  me 

Myself  suffices  :  no  fond  paramour 

Shall  woo  me  for  my  beauty,  save  as  truth 

Makes  beautiful,  or  knowledge  stands  for  love. 

Men's  minds   grow  wider :  my  serener  light 

Probes  the  dark  closets  of  the  mystic  Past, 

And  many  a  bat-like  phantom,  blinded,  shrieks 


142  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

For  the  last  time,  and  dies:  yet  —  one  more  step, 
The  final  one,  awaits  me. 


AGATHON. 


(Appearing  from  behind  the  altar.} 

Yea,  and   that 
Thou  canst  not  take. 


URANIA. 
What  hinders  me  ?  —  speak  on  ! 

AGATHON. 

Then  thou  wert  God  ! 

URANIA. 

The  Cause  ?  the  first  impelling  Force  ? 
The  Ages  yet  may  make  me  so. 

AGATHON. 

And  Man, 

Who,  knowing  thee,.  is  everything  thou  art, 
Shall  find  himself  created  by  his  will, 
And  all  his  faith  in  one  advancing  life 
Through  fairer  spheres  is  thine  in  being  his  ! 
Almighty  Love,  lord  of  intelligence, 
Anointed   Prophet  of  Eternity, 
Lives,  even  as  thou. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


URANIA. 

And  dies,  when  thwarted  law 
Prohibits. 

AGATHON. 

Nay  !  —  not  dies,  howe'er  obscured 
Or  mutilate,  —  not  dies,  in  that  dense  dark 
Where  thou  art  impotent,  but  is  the  ray 
That  guides  men  to  thy  feet  and  far  beyond! 

URANIA. 

I  know  thou  canst  not  be  mine  enemy; 
Yet  why,  to  flatter  life,  wilt  thou  repeat 
The  unproven  solace? 

AGATHON. 

Proven  by  its  need  !  — 
By  fates  so  large  no  fortune  can  fulfil ; 
By  wrong  no  earthly  justice  can  atone  ; 
By  promises  of  love  that  keep  love  pure ; 
And  all  rich  instincts,  powerless  of  aim, 
Save  chance,  and  time,  and  aspiration  wed 
To  freer  forces,  follow!     By  the  trust 
Of  the  chilled  Good  that  at  life's  very  end 
Puts  forth  a  root,  and  feels  its  blossom  sure ! 
Yea,  by  thy  law!  —  since  every  being  holds 
Its  final  purpose  in  the  primal  cell, 
And  here  the  radiant  destiny  o'erflows 


144 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


Its  visible  bounds,  enlarges  what  it  took 
From  sources  past  discovery,  and  predicts 
No  end,  or,  if  an  end,  the  end  of  all ! 

URANIA. 

I  know  this  dialect,  so  many  strive 
To  make  it  mine,  or  bend  my  tongue  thereto. 
Let  there  be  truce  while  perfect  knowledge  waits  ! 
Here  cometh  one  whom  I  must  serve,  —  and  thou, 
If  thou  wouldst  live. 

[Enter  PRINCE  DEUKALION.] 

AGATHON. 

My  father! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Have  I,  then, 

In  some  exalted  trance  begotten  thee  ?  - 
Ah,  not  from  her  who  only  should  have  nursed 
Thy  babyhood, — our  race  is  yet  to  come. 
Thou  hast  my  features,  and  from  heart  and  lip, 
As  thus   I  hold  them  swiftly  unto   mine, 
Flow  sweetness;  and  the  light  in  thy  young  eyes 
Is  as  a  hope  within  me. 

AGATHON. 

And  my  work 
Shall  bring  me  nearer,  since,  if  thou  wert  not, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

I  could  not  be!     My  hands  are  tender  yet, 

My  feet  too  lightly  borne,  my  soul  alive 

With  too  much  joy:   I  feel,  but  cannot  teach, 

And  wander,  guided  by  a  shaft  of  light 

That  shall  illumine  knowledge  as   I  need. 

Whither,  I  question  not :   I  only  know 

It  touches  thee,  or  thy  far  phantasm  set 

Where  fades  from  earth  the  beam,  so  linking  us 

In  one  design.     The  first  art  thou  to  know, 

The  first  to  love  me, — and  wouldst  first  command 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

I  have  awaited  thee  a  thousand  years. 

AGATHON. 

I  waited  for  my  time. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Our  blood  thou  hast: 

So  might  Prometheus  speak.     But  wilt  thou,  here. 
Where  gray  Tradition  hews  each  separate  stone, 
And  vainly  gropes  decrepit  Faith  to  clutch 
The  outflown  Deity,  transform  the  shrine 
Where  He,  so  starved  by  penance,  comes  no  more. 
But  elsewhere  stays  until   His  feast  be  spread? 
Some  natural  odor  of  the  happy  earth 
Breaks  in  with  thee :  the  arches  clasp  above 
With  leafy  lightness  of  the  summer  boughs: 


146 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


The  oriel  drops  rose-leaves,  and  the  font, 
Bubbling  and  brightening  with  an  inward  life, 
Spins  up  in  silver,  tinkling  as  it  falls. 
What  hast  thou  done? 

AGATHON. 

At  first  I  took  away 

The  High-Priest's  rnitre,  long  since  threadbare  grown, 
Eaten  by  moths,  dust-soiled  and  shapeless.     He, 
As  one  forgetful,  sought,  then  seemed  to  wear, 
And  with  a  customed  hand  to  set  aright,  - 
Then  missed,  forgot  again.     His  ephod,  next, 
Of  fine-twined  linen,  scarlet,  blue  and  gold, 
The  girdle  and  the  breast-plate  of  the  tribes, 
I  hid  from  further  use,  — a  sorer  loss, 
Awhile  in  his  bewildered  looks  betrayed 
And  halting  speech;  but  now  he  scarce  recalls 
That  such  things  were  nor  could  be  otherwise. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

What  next? 

AGATHON. 

What  still  remains;  and  — now  — I  do! 

TAGATHON  removes  the  tablet  <with  the  rayed  triangle,  takes  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant  from  the  top  of  the  altar,  and  conceals  them. 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

The  Cross  endures. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  147 

AGATHON. 

Till  some  diviner  type 

Of  man  that  loves  and  gives  himself  for  men, 
Shall  plant  his  emblem! 

PRINCE     DEUKALTON. 

O'er  it,  set  a  star,— 
Beneath,  a  sphere! 

AGATHON. 

Man  must  invent  his  own  ; 
And  this,  that  his  far  memory  antedates,  - 
Descended  with  him  from  the  world's  cold  roof, 
Where,  past  the  Indian  peaks,  on  high  Pamere 
His  race  was  cradled,  —  from  a  single  death 
Took  sanctity  forever !     Whether  mine 
Be  star  or  sphere,  it  is  not  mine  to   choose  ; 
For  I  must  pass  ere  I  am  known  of  men, 
Who  seeing,  hearing,  loving  me,  perchance, 
Behold  the  brother,  not  the  future  god  ! 

[Exeunt, 


148  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


SCENE  III. 

[  The  court  of  a  grand,  dusky  temple,  with  beams  as  of  cedar-wood,  supported 
by  gilded  pillars.  At  the  further  end,  a  veil,  through  which  sculptured 
cherubim  are  indistinctly  seen.  On  each  side  are  thrones,  overlaid  with 
gold,  set  in  the  interspaces  of  the  colonnades.} 

PROMETHEUS     (sohlS\ 

The  sportive  genii  of  illusive  form, 

Of  hidden  color  and  divided  ray, 

Have  built  me  this,  the  ampler  counterfeit 

Of  thine,  O  Solomon  !  that  lifted  up 

Moriah  into  flashing  pinnacles, 

And  spoiled  umbrageous  Lebanon  to  roof 

Its  courts  with  cedar  !     Less  than  air  is  mine, 

The  ghost  of  thy  barbaric  fane,  yet  meet 

To  hold  the  ghosts  that  deem  themselves  alive, 

As  in  a  truce  of  spirit,  when  the  Dead 

Float  gray  and  moth-like  through  their  wonted  rooms, 

Are  shaped  in  dusky  nooks  to  living  eyes, 

And  send  the  hollow  semblance  of  a  voice 

To  living  ears,  —  the  law  that  parts  them  both 

Being  all  inviolate.     Such  unconscious  truce 

I  now  proclaim,  as  ever  in  large  minds 

Holds  back  the  narrower  passion,  and  decides. 

The  conflicts  of  the  earth  must  sometimes  pause, 

Breathless  :  some  hour  of  weariness  must  come 

When  each  fierce  Power  inspects  its  battered    mail, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  149 

The  old  blade  reforges,  or  picks  out  a  new, 

While  measuring  with  a  dim  and  desperate  eye 

The  limbs  of  Man's  new  champion.     Agathon  ! 

Thy  soul  is  yet  outside  the  fiery  lists  : 

The  trumpet  hath  not  called  thee  :  as  a  child 

Thou  waitest,  but  the  wisdom  of  a  child 

Must  first  be  spoken.     From  their  seats  of  rule 

I  summon  them  whom  thou  shalt  meet,  —  and  thee  ! 

King  of  the  glorious    reign, 
To  whom  thy  glory  slain 
Returned  for  all  men's  gain,  — 
Queen  of  the  triple  crown, 
Whose  haughty  eyes  look  down 
From  heights  of  old  renown, — 
Priest,  that  wast  sent  to  be 
Deliverer,  but  mak'st  free 
Only  who  follow  thee,  — 
Muse,  that  hast  grown  so  high 
Through  the  unmeasured  sky, 
Man  knows  thee  but  to  die,  — 
Come,  or  the  phantom  send, 
Commissioned  to  defend  ! 


jg0  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

{The  forms  — or  phantasms  — of  BUDDHA,  MEDUSA,  CALCHAS  and  URANIA 
appear,  and  seat  themselves  upon  opposite  thrones.  AGATHON  enters  and 
advances  to  the  centre  of  the  temple-court.] 

BUDDHA   (dreamily). 

Across  my  bliss  of  Self  absorbed  in  All, 

And  only  conscious  as  a  speck  of  dust 

Is  of  its  Earth,  there  creeps  such  faintest  thrill 

As  to  the  lotus-bulb  or  rose's  root 

Strikes  downward  from  the  sweetness  of  the  flower,  - 

The  sign  that  somewhere  in  the  outlived  world 

A  God-selected  soul  is  ripe  to  ask 

A  question  that  compels  reply.     I  wake, 

As  one  that,  hammock-cradled  under  palms 

Beside  a  tropic  river,  drinks  the  breath 

Of  clove  and  cinnamon  orchards,  seaward  blown, 

And  through  the,  half-transparence  of  his  lids 

Sees  from  the  golden-gray  of   afternoon 

The  sunset's  amber  flush,  but  never  fade. 

Art  thou,  fair  Boy,  the  questioner?     Thine  eyes 

Demand  Life's  secret:  learn  thou  to  renounce, 

And  grow,  renouncing,  sure  of  Deity! 

AGATHON. 

But  I  accept,  —  even  all  this    conscious  life 
Gives  in  its  fullest  measure,  —  gladness,  health, 
Clean  appetite,  and  wholeness  of  my  claim 
To  knowledge,  beauty,  aspiration,  power  ! 
Joy  follows  action,  here  ;  and  action  bliss, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  1$I 

Hereafter!     While,  God-lulled,  thy  children  sleep, 
Mine,  God-aroused,  shall  wake  to  wander  on 
Through  spheres  thy  slumbrous  essence   never  dreamed. 
Thy  highest  is   my  lowest ! 

MEDUSA. 

So  speaks  Youth, 

That  fans  a  calenture  in  spirits  light : 
With  such   I  deal  not,  but  its  answering  chill. 
What  refuge  hast  thou  for  the  weary  soul 
That  says  :  "  My  feet  are  bleeding ;   carry  me, 
And   I  will  serve  thee"?     Fretful  is  the  race, 
And  breaks  its  playthings  like  a  petted  child. 
But,  looking  backward  o'er  the  heritage 
That  makes  me  holy,  thee  nor  like  of  thee 
Do  I  perceive  :  whose  warrant  sent  thee  here  ? 
If  Man's  half-lost  and  consecrated  Past 
Thou  canst  restore,  be  welcome !  —  otherwise 
New  heresy  and  hate  are  born  of  thee. 
Lo  !  my  commands  are  heard ;   I  do  not  change  ; 
Nay,  though  the  headlong  world  transform  itself 
And  speak  strange  tongues,  in  me  all  truth  begins, 
In  me  is  finished! 

AGATHON. 
(Advancing  to  the  foot  of  MEDUSA'S  throne.'] 

Wake,  O  Sorceress, 
Caught  fast  in  thine  own  toils  !     Wash  thy  filmed  eyes 


;2  PRINCE   DEUKALION. 

And  look  around  thee !     Why,  what  things  are  these  ? 

Terror  is  gone  from   men,  and   Ignorance 

Girds  his  weak  loins,  and  all  usurping  hands 

Of  mediation  grope  for  lost  appeals, 

Since  that  dread  simulacrum  thou  didst  frame 

From  breath  of  prayer,  and  altar-smoke,  and  gold, 

Falls,  and  is  God  no  more  !     A  thousand  years 

Have  passed  since  thou,  in  plenitude  of  power, 

Didst  set  thy  house  in  order,  smile  well-pleased, 

And  softly  say  :  "  Now  may  I  sleep  awhile  !  " 

Yea,  though  the  night-lamp    bearing,  thou  hast  walked 

The  chambers  to  and  fro,  't  was  still   in  sleep, 

And  drowsed  from  changes  of  the  sunlit  life 

Outside,  till  all  thy  Past  slid  down,  and  drifts 

Where  now  it  harms  not:  waken,  if  thou  canst! 

MEDUSA  (starting). 

What  place  is  this?     Who  else  is  throned,  where  I 
Alone  am  crowned  ? 

AGATHON. 

Let    them  declare! 
CALCHAS. 

(Lifting  his  hand  mechanically  to  his  brow,  then  suddenly  recollecting) 

No  crown 

He  needs  to  wear  whom  happy  followers  love; 
And  unto  these  have  I  enlarged  my  gifts 


'53 


PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LION. 

Even  as  their  souls  discovered  and  desired. 
I  hold  them  not  from  seeking,  but  above 
High  wills  and  actions  set  the   highest  Good, 
His  gift,  not  mine.     I  war  but  with  their  pride 
That,  looking  inward,  finds  too  clear  a  light, 
Too  large  a  license,  —  looking    upward,  sees 
A   Deity  too  dim  for  mortal  sense. 

AGATHON. 

Nay,   Priest !-- thou  warrest  with  pure  intelligence 
.That  rays  all  whither  from  its  central  flame, 
And  reaches  God  on   Po.wer's    or  Beauty's  side, 
As  on   Devotion's  !     Since  thou  wast  content 
With  One  whose  human  spite  and  jealousy, 
Though  veiled  by  later  love,  still  shows  the  badge 
Of  clanship,  men  have  passed  thy  visible  fanes 
To  kneel  in  that  invisible,  whose  wide  walls 
Surround  all  tribes,  all  upward-lifted  lives, 
All  downward  driven  by  ignorance  and  wrong. 
Who  reigns  there  sits  above  thy  reach  of  soul : 
Denial  cannot  'scape   Him,  sacrilege  stray 
Beyond   His  pity,  nor  by  any  path 
The  seeking  spirit  miss  ! 

URANIA. 

Save,  indeed, 

He  be  not  else  than  universal   Force, 
And  all  His  worship  out  of  fibres  born, 


154  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

That,  changing  texture,  change  Him  unto  Man. 
What  eye  hath  known   Him  ?  What  fine  instrument 
Hath  found,  as  't  were  a  planet  yet  unseen, 
His  place  among  the  balance  of    the  stars  ? 
But  selfish  fancy  and  insatiate  love, 
Chilled  by  almighty  Law,  demand  to  feel 
A  human  heart-beat  somewhere  in  the  void, 
And  rescue  their  imagined  essences, 
Distinct  and  conscious,  from  eternal  dust ! 

AGATHON. 

That  selfish  fancy  and  insatiate  love 
Are  thine,  not  knowing  !     Thou,  without  thy  will, 
Art  the  most  glorious  of  the  hosts  that  serve, 
Proclaimer  of  the  measureless  scheme  divine 
That  makes  men  tremble  !     In  that  universe 
Thy  lore  hath  found  for  His  activity 
Earth's  petty  creeds  fall  off  as  wintered  leaves, 
When  April  swells  the  bud  of  new.     Men  grow, 
But  not  beyond  their  hearts,  —  possess,  enjoy, 
Yet,  being  dependent,  ever  must  believe  ; 
So  with  thy  knowledge  rises   Him  believed, 
Shakes  off  as  rags  what  once  were  holy  names, 
Treads  under  foot  as  crackling  potsherds  all 
The  symbols  of  old  races,  with  one  breath 
Puffs  into  air  defilement  of  their  hates, 
And  stands  alone,  too  awful  to  be  named ! 
This  is  thy  service. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PROMETHEUS. 

Hast  thoir  aught  to  ask  ? 

AGATHON. 

Verily,  one  seed  is  Truth's  ;  but  they  who  clip 
The  sprouting  plant  to  hedge  their  close  domains, 
How  should  they  know  its  grace  of  natural  boughs 
And  blossoms  bursting  to  the  startled  sun? 
I  ask  them  naught,  fore-hearing  their  replies. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Forces  that  work,  or  dream  ; 
Shadows  that  are,  or  seem  ; 
Whether  your  spell  sublime 
Fades  at  the  touch  of  Time, 
Or  from  the  ages  ye 
Take  loftier  destiny,  — 
I,  of  the  primal  date 
As  of  the  final  fate, 
Having  compelled,  release : 
Depart,  but  not  in  peace  ! 

[  The  four  figures  disappear  from   the   thrones.       PRINCE  DEUKALION    and 
PYRRHA  enter  the  court  of  the  temple.'] 

PYRRHA. 

O  Son,  thou  last  and  sweetest  hope  for  us, 
Since  men  shall  clasp  thy  truth  in  loving  thee ; 


156  PRINCE  DE UK 'A LION. 

Where  tarrlest  thou  ?     The  vault  of  golden  air 
Above  thy  meadows,  knowing  thee  no  more, 
Is  emptied  of  delight :  the  scattered  homes, 
Wherein  thy  face  was  precious,  yearn  and  wait : 
The  cities  and  the  highways  of  the  earth 
That  know  thee  not,  yet  having  seen  thee,  miss, 
Are  calling  on  thy  name.      Lo !  we  have  sought, 
I  and  thy  father,  —  sorrowing,  for  thee. 

AGATHON. 

How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me  ?     Wist  ye  not 
That  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  work  ? 


SCENE   IV. 

\A  vast,  natural  platform,  thrust  forward  from  the  extremity  of  a  mountain- 
chain.  Upon  it  rise  the  unfinished  walls  of  an  edifice,  only  half  the  pillars 
of  the  facade  being  lifted  into  place  ;  yet  every  block  suggests  the  harmony 
of  the  complete  design.  Beyond  it  the  height  falls  away  into  broad  ter 
races,  the  first  dotted  with  woods  of  oak  and  chestnut  trees,  those  below 
with  fig,  olive  and  fields  of  vine,  and  finally  sinking  through  orange 
groves  to  the  palms  and  tamarinds  of  a  great  plain,  divided  by  an  inlet  of 
the  sea.  PROMETHEUS,  PANDORA,  EPIMETHEUS,  PRINCE  DEUKALION 
and  PYRRHA,  on  the  marble  steps  leading  to  the  portal^ 

EPIMETHEUS. 

We  know  ourselves. 

PANDORA. 

And  love ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PROMETHEUS. 

And  work  as  one  ! 

Divided  by  the  Gods  that  portioned  out 
Parts  of  a  single  destiny  to   each, — 
Divided  by  the  darkness  of  the  race 
That  sees  in  fragments,  and  by  highest  Will, 
Forerunning  Time  so  far  with  prophecy 
That  even  hope  grows  faint,  and  faith  benumbed, 
We  stand  united  now  ! 

PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

Thou  in  design, 

We  in  fulfilment ;   what  is  Time,  henceforth  ? 
I  know  thee  as  the  Titan  who  defied 
Man's  violent  Gods,  defending  Man's  own  right, 
And  who,  foreseeing  triumph  in  the  end, 
Hast  never  made  surrender.     What  I  am 
Is  thine  :   I  am  thy  form  of  victory, 
First  kindled  with  the  stolen  fire  of  heaven, 
To  make  all  wisdom,  worship,  power,  faith,  joy, 
And  beauty,  one ! 

PANDORA. 

And  thou,  my  daughter  pure, 
My  Pyrrha,  fear  not  thou  that  this  shall  be, 
Till  Woman  owns  her  equal  half  of  life, 
And,  following  some  supernal  instinct,  finds 
Her  half  of  Godhead  ! 


158  PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

T  is  not  hers  to  doubt. 

PROMETHEUS. 

Once  did  we  walk  the  earth  unseen  ;  but  now 
Men  pause,  and  with  a  holy,  sweet  surmise 
Behold  us  dimly  :   Pyrrha,  Deukalion 
Grow  dear  to  many  an  eye  that  looks  afar, 
And  vanish  in  the  nearness.     Brother,  thou, 
Whose  mind  reversed  interprets  all  the  Past 
And  so  o'erlooks  the  Future,  even  as  one 
That  scales  a  mount  between  two  mighty  vales, 
Who  readest  thus  Faith's  awful   secrets, —  thou 
Art  loved,  and  feared;  but  still  our  perfect  day 
Sleeps  in  the  womb  of  an  unrisen  morn. 

SHEPHERD. 
(On  the  terrace  below,  singing?) 

Where  the  arch  of  the  rock  is  bended, 
.  Warm,  and  hid  from  the  dew, 
Slumber  the  sheep  I  tended, 

All  the  sweet  night  through. 
Never  a  wolf  affrights  them 

Here,  in  the  pasture's  peace, 
But  the  tender  grass  delights  them, 

And  the  shadows  cool  their  fleece. 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  jr 

I  blow,  as  a  downy  feather, 

The  sleep  on  my  eyelids  laid, 
And  rise  in  the  twilight  weather, 

Between  the  glow  and  the  shade. 
Too  blest  the  hour  has  made   me 

For  a  speech  the  tongue  may  know, 
But  my  happy  flute  shall  aid  me, 

And  speak  to  my  love  below! 

PROMETHEUS. 

These  simple  lives  may  own  contentment  now, 

Unscared  ;  for  happiness  it  is  that  gives 

Sweet  savor  unto  worship.     Men,  as    trees, 

Take  from  the  elements  their  separate  food 

And  grow  in  concord  with  the  season's  will, — 

Exempt  not  yet,  unsheltered  even  as  these 

From  fated  evils,  gnawing  drouth  at  root, 

Bough-shattering  winds,  the  lightning's  sudden  spear, 

And  blackest  ruin,  when  the  forest's    heart 

Breaks  in  the  vortex  of  the  hurricane! 

But  each  discerns  his  place,  or,  failing  it, 

Is  gently  guided,  —  honors,  in  himself, 

Symmetric  health  and  noble  appetites 

He  once  insulted, — hears  the  choric  chant, 

Unenvious  of  the  singer's  golden  throat, 

And  smiles  when  Genius  speaks,  as  who  should  say: 

"  He  knows  me,  and  his  mighty  words  are  mine." 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


SHEPHERDESS. 

{Singing  in  the  'valley.'] 

Uncover  the  embers  ! 
With  pine-cone  and  myrtle 
My  breath  shall  enkindle 

The  sacred  Fire! 
Arise  through  the  stillness 
My  shepherd's  blue  signal, 
And  bear  to  his  mountain 

The  valley's  desire  ! 
The  olive-tree  bendeth  ; 
The  grapes  gather  purple  ; 
The  garden  in  sunshine 

Is  ripe  to  the  core  : 
Then  smile  as  thou  sleepest, 
His  fruit  and  my  blossom ; 
There's  peace  in  the  chamber, 

And  song  at  the  door! 

PROMETHEUS. 

The  suns  of  milder  centuries  must  gild 

The  snow  of  this  young  marble,  ere  one  block 

Shah  cap  the  pediment,  and  flash  to  heaven 

Its  finished  glory!     Oft  the  laborers 

Shall  pause,  grown  weary  of  the  vast  design; 

Oft  shall  old  apathy  return,  old  strife 

Shake  like  a  chained  volcano  'neath  the  sea; 


PRINCE  DEUKALION.  161 

But  ere  men  change  it,  every  stone  shall  turn 

To  adamant,  or  rise  by  hands  of  air! 

As  from  the  evangels  of  all  races  God 

Begins  to  be,  the  tongues  of  every  race, 

Quiring  a  strain  that  silences  the  stars, 

Alone  can  worship  Him  !     Not  yet  Earth  hears 

More  than  the  quarriers'  and  the  builders'  hymns. 

CHANT. 

(From  the  opposite  side.} 

Fashion  your  chisels  well 
With  the  steel  from  a  hero's  hand, 

Who  conquered,  as  he  fell, 
The  freedom  of  a  land ! 

Forge,  out  of  chains  that  break, 
Hammers  and  clamps  alone  ; 

And  cut  from  a  martyr's  stake 
A  wand  to  mete  the  stone ! 

But  sing,  as  ye  work,  a  strain 
Of  joy  and  of  triumph  pure, 

Of  deeds  that  were  not  in  vain, 
And  blessings  that  most  endure,  — 

As  a  hope  and  a  happier  grace 
Round  the  lives  of  duty  poured  ; 

And  the  stone  shall  find  its  place 
In  the  Temple  of  the  Lord ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Quick,  fiery  thrills,  which  only  are  not  pangs 
Because  so  warm  and  welcome,  pierce  my  frame, 
As  were  its  airy  substance  suddenly 
Clothed  on  with  flesh  ;  the  ichor  in  my  veins 
Begins  to  redden  with  the  pulse  of  blood, 
And,  from  the  recognition  of  the  eyes 
That  now  behold  me,  something  I  receive 
Of  Man's  incarnate  beauty.     Thou,  as  well, 
Confessest  this  bright  change  :  across  thy  cheeks 
A  faintest  wild-rose  color  comes  and  goes, 
And,  on  thy  proud  lips,   Pyrrha,  sits  a  flame  ! 
Oh,  we  are  nearer! — not  suffice  me  now 
The  touch  of  marble  hands,  reliance  cold, 
And  Destiny's  pale  promises  of  love; 
But,  clasping  thee  as  mortal  passion  clasps 
Bosom  to  bosom,  let  my  being  thus 
Assure  itself,  and  thine! 

PYRRHA. 

Thine  eyes  compel ; 

Thy  words  are  as  a  wind  that  bends  me  down, 
And  thou  art  beautiful  as  I  to  thee. 
What  holds  me  back?     Is  it  that  I  perceive, 
O  Titan   Mother,  thy  reproving  face, 
Immortal  patience  consecrates,  and  haste, 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

That  pours  too  soon  the  beaker  of  the  Gods, 
Must  ever  trouble  ?     Aid  me  with  thy  words  ! 

PANDORA. 

Take  counsel  of  thy  heart !     The  Gods  themselves 
Have  seasons  to  rejoice;  when  happier  eyes 
Illume  their  ether,  and  unwonted  lips 
Meet,  and  their  large   refreshment  falls  on  men. 
Think  what  thou   art,  then  follow  thy  desire  ! 

[PYRRHA  muses  a  moment,  then  turns  towards  PRINCE  DEUKALION.     He 

clasps  her  to  his  breast,  and  they  kiss  each  other. 


SCENE   V. 

[The  Same.] 
SPIRITS    OF   DAWN. 

Hark !  has  the  Sun-god's   Hour 
Smitten  her  cymbals,  dreaming  him  nigh  ? 
We  are  called  by  a  sound,  and  sped  by  a  power, 

To  break  the  sleep  of  the  sky ! 

^Eolian  echoes  blow 
From  the  fourfold  realms  of  the  air, 
And  a  torch,  not  ours,  with  a  mightier  glow 

Burns  where  the  East  is  bare  ! 

We  hasten,  we  scatter  the  cloud: 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

We  quench  the  beam  of  the  great  white  star; 

But  the  paean  is  over-loud, 
And  the  splendor  comes  from  afar ! 

It  flushes  our  halls  of   rest, 

As  the  sun  were  a  rose  in  hue, 
And  it  paints  the  Earth,  as  she  bares  her  breast 

To  the  emptied  urns  of  the  dew! 

\SoundofjEolian  harps;  the  face  of  Eos  appears^ 
EOS. 

Is  this  mine  Earth? 

The  many-headlanded,  the  temple-crowned, 
Which  the  great  purple  sea  so  whispered  round, 
When  earlier  Gods  had  birth  ? 
Mine  Earth,  I  loved  so  well, 
Rejoiced  in,  as  it  welcomed  me, 
And  fed  with  unexhausted  hydromel, 
While  the  young  race  was  free! 
I  know  its  curving  strands, 
Its  dimpling  hollows,  bosom-budding  hills; 
I  scent  large  fragrance  of  the  life  that  fills 

The  joined  or  parted  lands. 
Old  hopes,  and  sweetest,  burn  again; 
Old  words  are  stammering  on  my  tongue: 
Was  it  your  lips  that  kissed,  Immortal  Twain, 
Or  is  Tithonus  young? 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


PYRRHA. 

As  a  gift  unsought  ; 

As  a  joy  unbought; 

As  a  fair  hope  fed 

From  a  hope  that  is  dead  ; 

As  a  diadem  set 

When  the  brows  forget,  — 

O        ' 

Thou,  the  dearest, 
Uncalled,  appearest  ! 

PRINCE    DEUKALION. 

Eyes  of  hope,  and  promise-laden 

Lips,  that  smile  before  they  speak, 
Are  they  thine,  divinest  Maiden, 

Blushing  morning  from  thy  cheek  ? 
Unto  prayer  thy  face  denying, 
Unto  deed  at  last  replying, 
Linger  near,  and  turn  not  from  us 
Present  bliss  and  holier  promise! 

In  the  glory  thou  unfoldest, 

Tranced  with  music  of  thy  tongue, 
Young  is  all  that  once  was  oldest, 

Love  and  Faith  and  Will  are  young  ! 
Stay  with  us!  —  thy  smile  assuages 
Pangs  bequeathed  by  weary  ages, 
And  thine  eyes  are  sweet  forewarning 
Of  the  world's  eternal  morning  ! 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 


G^EA. 


The  blushes  of  thy  cheeks  descend  on  me, 

Thy  glance  is  glorious  upon  my  mountains  : 

I  breathe  in  ampler  wind  and  prouder  sea, 

And  beat,  strong-pulsed,  thro'  mine  unnumbered  fountains. 

Though  filled  with  seeds  of  unimagined  powers, 

I  cannot  spare  my  beauty:  now,  from  thee 

Fresh  silver  stars  the  dewy-beaded  flowers, 

And  rosy  mists  the  fading  forelands  cover, 

Until,  far  northward,  thou  dost  pour 

The  rainbow's  dust  on  every  ice-built  shore, 

To  make  even  sun-forgetting  Death  thy  lover! 

Am   I  not  fair? — yea,  though  thy  face   should  bow 

Thus  near  and  fond,  and  find  no  child  that  knew  thee: 

But,  having  nursed  Humanity  as    thou, 

I  feel  what  pure,  prophetic  rapture   drew   thee. 

Stay  thou  with  men;  take  not  away  thy  hope, 

The  endless  answer  to  an  endless  vow: 

Touch  only,  here,  the  risen  Temple's  cope, 

And  every  glen  and  darksome  lowland  alley 

Shall  hail  it  as  a  herald  ray, 

And  wait  in  happier  patience  for  the  day 

When  morning's  mountain-gold  shall  flood   the  valley! 

EOS. 

Another  must  fulfil: 

I  am  the  promise,  not  the  will. 


PRINCE  DE  UK  A  LION. 

Men  dimly  guess,  through  me, 

The  distant  glories  that  may  be, 
Renewed,  as  each  grows  pale 

In  coming,  through   my  roseate  veil. 
But,  seeming  o'erpowered 

When  sunrise  is  strong, 
Faith,  Courage,  Devotion, 

My  being  prolong ! 
I  fade,  for  the  coward ; 

I  flame,  for  the  bold; 
And  noble  emotion 

My  face  shall  behold. 
I  grow  from  their  yearning 

As  they  from  my  vision,  — 
No  longer  the  Eos 

Of  spaces  Elysian, 
But  ever  returning 

With  promise  sublime,  — 
First  victor  o'er  Chaos, 

And  last  over  Time! 

PYRRHA. 

To  the  gracious  heart  of  Woman  and  the  love  that  fondly 

bends, 
Thou  hast  given  the  juster  manhood  that  shelters  it  and 

defends  : 


PRINCE  DEUKALION. 

For   the  Man's    immortal    ardor   and    the  breadth  of  his 

soul's  demand, 
Thou  hast  set  the  woman  beside  him,  and  weaponed  her 

equal  hand ; 

As  the  palm  by  the  palm  in  beauty,  the  female  and  the 
male, 

When  the  south-winds  mix  their  blossoms,  and  the  date- 
sheaf  cannot  fail ; 

For  one  is  the  glory  of  either,  since  the  primal  Fate  be 
gan 

To  guide  to  a  single  Future  Earth's  double-natured  Man  ! 

CHORUS. 

(From  the  valleys.} 

Mother,  thy  work  hath  blessed  us! 
Honored,  we  wear  thy  cestus ; 
Honored,  we  lay  it  aside, 
Crowned  with  the  bliss  of  the  bride; 
Honored,  we  loose  from  eclipse, 
Unto  the  sweetness  of  lips 
Sweeter  for  innocent    need, 
Moons  of  the  bosoms  that  feed! 
Tender,  for  difference'  sake, 
Serve  us  man's  haughtier  powers; 
Strength  from  his  being  we  take; 
But  to  restore  it  from  ours! 


PRINCE  DE  UK  'A  LION. 


PRINCE     DEUKALION. 

In  the  kiss  of  our  lips  that  reddened 

With  a  perfect  passion's  dawn, 
Met  the  bliss  pure  women  yearn  for, 
And  the  noble  truth  men  burn  for, 
When  the  youthful  fancy  is  deadened, 
But  the  human  heart  beats  on  ! 

By  the  light  of  the  dawn  within  them 

Their  weakness  my  children  see, 
And  Self  and  its  greeds  are  broken 
By  the  longing  that  dares  be  spoken, 
And  the  warmth  of  the  deeds  that  win  them 
The  courage  to  be  free  ! 

Still  shy  is  the  best  endeavor 

That  hath  set  its  goal  so  high  ; 

But  Good,  when  the  heart  betrays  it, 

And  Love,  by  the  lives  that  praise  it, 

Shall  cradle  the  earth  forever 

In  the  arms  of  a  happier  sky  ! 

CHORUS. 

(From  the  valleys.} 

We  hear  thee  and  know  thee,  Father! 
As  a  flock  the  Shepherd  leads, 


PRINCE    DE  UK  A  LION. 

We  follow  to  thy  pastures 

Of  great  and  generous  deeds. 
Though  suns  to  come  may  brand  us 

And  sudden  frosts  may  blight; 
And  Crime,  the  prowling  were-wolf, 

Steal  on  us  in  the  night ; 
Though  Self,  that  builds  unwearied, 

May  stain  the  purer  will, 
Or  Apathy,  slowly  dying 

Of  his  own  mortal  chill ; 
Yet  thou  hast  healing  fountains 

Replenished  from  above, 
In  heart,  brain,  soul,  renewing 

The  triple  strength  of  love! 
Planted  through  all  the  ages 

Thy  trees  shall  yield  us  food, 
And  goldening  for  our  harvest 

Shall  grow  the  natural  Good! 

PROMETHEUS. 

Retrieve  perverted  destiny ! 
T  is  this  shall  set  your  children  free. 
The  forces  of  your  race  employ 
To  make  sure  heritage  of  joy ; 
Yet  feed,  with  every  earthly  sense, 
Its  heavenly  coincidence, — 
That,  as  the  garment  of  an  hour; 
This,  as  an  everlasting  power. 


PRINCE  DEUK ALIGN. 

For  Life,  whose  source  not  here  began, 
Must  fill  the  utmost  sphere  of  Man, 
And,  so  expanding,  lifted  be 
Along  the  line  of  God's  decree, 
To  find  in  endless  growth  all  good,  — 
In  endless  toil,  beatitude. 
Seek  not  to  know  Him  ;  yet  aspire 
As  atoms  toward  the  central  fire  ! 
Not  lord  of  race  is  He,  afar,  - 
Of  Man,  or  Earth,  or  any  star, 
But  of  the  inconceivable  All ; 
Whence  nothing  that  there  is  can  fall 
Beyond   Him,  —  but  may  nearer  rise, 
Slow-circling  through  eternal  skies. 
His  larger  life  ye  cannot  miss, 
In  gladly,  nobly  using  this. 
Now,  as  a  child  in  April  hours 
Clasps  tight  its  handful  of  first  flowers, 
Homeward,  to  meet  His  purpose,  go !  — 
These  things  are  all  ye  need  to  know. 


THE     END. 


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